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THE LIBRARY OF THE 





UNIVERSITY OF 
NORTH CAROLINA 


AICHA PREHICE 





ENDOWED BY THE 


1 


DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC 


SOCIETIES 





1891 





UC 


This book is due at the WALTER R. DAVIS LIBRARY on 
the last date stamped under “Date Due.” If not on hold, it may 
be renewed by bringing it to the library. 


DATE DATE 
DUE RETURNED DUE RETURNED 





Form No 513, 
Rev. 1/84 


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WITCHCRAFT 
OUTIIDE. 


© 


BY 
CAROLINE E. UPHAM 


“The Matden Aunt.” 








©) 


VIM ORM Mie had. 


SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS: 
Tue SALEM Press PUBLISHING & PRINTING Co, 
Ghe Salem Press. 
1891. 


REVIEWED BY 
PRESERVATION 
MICROFILMING 


aE , 4 
s/ 


CopyRIGHT, 1891, 5 


BY 


Carouine E. UPHAM. 





TO MY LITTLE SON 
Per koioevGNY WORTH UPHAM 
BOTH BECAUSE HE IS DEAR 


AND BECAUSE OF THE NAME HE BEARS. 


(iii) 





CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER I.—The Witch—Her Position in 
the Old and New World—Matthew 
Hopkins, the Witch-finder General, 


CHAPTER II.—Colonial Belief in the Cloven 
Hoof, 


CuaptTer III.—The Bewitched Children, 
CHAPTER [V.—Three Arrests, 

Cuaprer V.—A 17th Century Examination, 
Cuaprer VI.—The Colony Bewitched, . 


CuHaPTerR VII.—The Ministers, . 


Cuaprer VIII.—Giles Corey’s Infatuation— 
Martha Corey, . 
(v) 


27 
4O 


47 


53 


vl CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER IX.--- Giles Corey’s Expiation, 62 
CHAPTER X.—Rebecca Nurse, 70 
CHAPTER XI.—A very Young Witch—In- 
trepid Joseph Putnam—John and 
Elizabeth Procter, 78 
CHAPTER XII.—Bridget Bishop, 88 
CuHaprer XIII.— Mary LEasty, the Self- 
forgetful, . 95 
CuapTer XIV.—The Jacobs Family, . LOG 
CuHaprerR XV.—The Trouble in Andover— 
Philip. and Mary English—Martha 
Carrier, III 
CuHaprer XVI.—Elizabeth How— Rev. 
George Burroughs—“‘Angels of Light,” 121 
Cuaprer XVII.—Reyv. Deodat Lawson and 
Other Names— Susannah Martin— 
Nineteen Persons “Of whom the World 
was not Worthy,” alee 


Cuaprer XVIII.—The Awakening, 


LAS ae 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 





Printed from the same plates used tn Lon. Gariig 
Upham’s work. 





The Philip English house, Salem, 
frontispiece. | 


The Rebecca Nurse homestead, still 
standing, Danvers, . : to face page 72. 
The Jacobs House, North Salem, 


to face page 100. 


_ Autographs of Sir William Phips, Jona- 
than Corwin, John Hathorne, John Procter, 


to face page 40. 


Autographs of Philip English, Mary Eng- 
lish, Mercy Lewis, Nicholas Noyes, Ann 


Putnam, : : : to face page 115. 


(vii) 





PREFACE. 





Sixty years ago in. |ebruary, two—lectures on 
the Witchcraft Delusion were given before the 
Salem Lyceum by the late Charles W. Upham. 
~ These, afterwards printed in book form, are most 
brilliant essays on this dark subject ; they were 
written when the author was in the vigor of early 
manhood, and attracted much attention at the 
time. Thirty-five years later, Mr .Upham, then 
in his ripe intellectual power, prepared his “His- 
tory of Salem Witchcraft,” which was given a high 
place among historical works, by reason of its 
faithful research, fair judgment and elegant dic- 
tion. Both works are now out of print. 
The author of the present volume claims to be 
~ neither a brilliant essayist nor an historian, but 
having been urged to prepare a sketch of the 
History, now offers it to the public’as one would 


(ix) 


X PREFACE. 


the photograph of a notable scene, not a great 
original painting. And if, as it must be, the rich 
coloring and delicate effects are missing in the 
reproduction, it is hoped the drawing may be 
found true, and no important lines set in awry. 

Having been desired by the heirs of the late 
Charles W. Upham to draw freely from the His- 
tory, paragraphs from it have been woven into 
the sketch giving strength to the little story, and 
serving the reader better than a feminine pen 
could do. 

As “Salem Witchcraft in Outline” has come 
into being in the same room where the History 
was born, the writer hopes there may be one * 
point of resemblance between them, a staying 
quality. ‘That, whereas, her father-in-law earned 
for his creation a strong foothold in standard 
literature, the result of her work may be to have 
fixed certain facts firmly in the minds of those 


who read them. 


ENTRODUCTLTION. 


Next to the hard lessons taught by experience, 
no knowledge remains so firmly fixed as do the 
lessons learned in outline. : 

The Primary Geography, with its strongly- 
marked principal cities and largest rivers, will be 
stamped on the mind with lasting impression, 
while the High School Geography, because of its 
multitude of claims on the memory, fades away 
gently and evenly. 

It is through our Child’s History of England 
that we remember the notable dates and events 
of the Mother Country, and not from the more 
ponderous volumes we studied later, where the 
great crisis and its crowd of details being learned 
together are in time forgotten together. 

If it were not for this fact, courage might not 
be found wherewith to give in brief outline the 


(x1) 


XU INTRODUCTION. 


History of the «Witcheraft\;Delusion: . Yetare- 
membering the power of our Primary Geography, 
where the outline of the earth is given with entire 
success, there is no reason for hesitating to pre- 
sent a short story of one of the great mistakes 
made in one part of the earth. 

In order to get our outline of Salem Witch- 
craft, let us ask and seek replies to the following 
questions. 

Lee ew bensdideit occur? 

II. How long did it last? 

III. How many suffered ? 

IV. Why did they suffer at all? 

The persecution of persons for witchcraft in 
Salem was in 1692. 

It lasted from the latter part of February, 
when the first singular actions of the supposed 
bewitched young girls were noticed, until Sept. 
22, when the last executions took place. The 
storm was then over, though the air was not 
clear of threatened danger until May of 1693, 


when all prisoners were set free. 


INTRODUCTION. Xl 


Nineteen supposed witches were hung, fourteen 
of them being women, and Giles Corey who 
would not answer to the Court and plead either 
“suilty”’ or “not guilty” was pressed to death for 
his contumacy. 

The answer to the fourth question, “Why did 
they suffer at all?” will take the remainder of the 
book to give, and then large volumes more could 


be given further in reply. 





CHAPTER I. 


THE WITCH—— HER POSITION IN THE OLD AND NEW 
WORLD—MATTHEW HOPKINS, THE WITCH-FINDER- 
GENERAL. 


Spe for the true causes which brought 
about this fierce and desolating delusion in 
New England has been and is, to the student of 
human nature, as fascinating as seeking for the 
source of the Nile to explorers. The Nile would 
never have been the Nile if it had depended on 
Nyanza alone for its volume, but other lakes aided 
its current and countless tributaries swelled its 
power till it became mighty. So the philosopher, 
as he follows up one phase after another of early 
New England life, finds many elements which 
helped to swell the dark tide of superstition, till, 


(1) 


2 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


becoming resistless in its force, many innocent 
lives were swept away in the flood. 

The veritable origin of the delusion was of 
course in the established belief of the day in 
Witchcraft, given an impetus by mischievous 

girls, augmented by the ignorance of the ‘“chirur- 
| geons” who knew less of hysteria and the infinite 
capacities of nerves than is known now, impelled 
by the ministers, who felt that in rooting out the 
evil they were subduing enemies of the Lord, and 
by their valor becoming available for heavenly 
promotion, while family feuds, private grudges, 
jealousies and bitterness,—all added to the terri- 
ble tumult. 

It is a little singular to note how the word 
witch has improved in its significance with more 
enlightened times. We speak of a “‘ittle witch,” 
meaning a child or young person of uncommon 
attractiveness, and are ‘‘bewitched” we say with 
anything we intensely admire, with never a 
thought of diabolical influence in either case ; far 


otherwise did the world of 1692 interpret the word. 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 3 


_ “A witch was regarded by our fathers, as a per- 
son who has made a deliberate and formal com- 
pact with Satan, by which compact it was agreed 
that she should become his faithful subject, and 
do what she could in promoting his cause, and 
in consideration of this allegiance and service, 
he on his part agreed to exercise his supernatural 
powers in her favor, and communicate to her a 
portion of those powers. ‘Thus a witch was con- 
sidered in the light of a person who had trans- 
ferred allegiance and worship from God to the 
Devil.” | 

Having seen how benighted our ancestors were 
on this subject, let us take a look across the 
Atlantic and see what they were doing in the fif- 
‘teenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 
Among other things, they were hanging and 
burning witches by the hundreds and thousands. 
For once, England, France and Germany were 
of one mind, they all believed in witchcraft or . 
demonology, and implicitly obeyed the scriptural 


injunction ‘‘thou’shalt not suffer a witch to live.” 


4 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


Not alone the poor and ignorant in these coun- 
tries, but the highest and wisest in the land, 
poets, bishops, judges, gave it authority. Why 
should any humbler people differ in opinion, ex- 
cepting of course the unfortunates accused ? 

It may be something of a shock to realize that 
Richard Baxter whose “Saints’ Rest”’ has soothed 
so many souls, the dauntless Luther, Kepler, who 
could read the laws governing planets, that dis- 
coverer in philosophy, Bacon, such a compendi- 
um of wisdom as Sir Thomas Browne, with others 
to whom we have always rendered deep intellec- 
tual homage, were all of this way of thinking. 


In England, in the year 1645, Matthew Hop- 


kins coming into the world a little late for the 
Crusades, desiring to be famous, assumed the 
title of “‘ Witch-finder-general.”” He must have 
fancied that the promise ‘‘seek and ye shall find” 
applied specially to witches and salvation, for he 
most diligently sought for the first, pursuing his 
victims with barbarous methods for their detec- 


tion. 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 5 


As one of his tests was made use of in the 
Salem trials it may be given here. It was thought 
that if persons had made an agreement with the 
devil, he set his mark somewhere upon their 
bodies, and that it would be a dead or callous 
spot in the skin. So the flesh of the poor accused 
wretch was subjected to close scrutiny and 
pricked in order to find the callous spot. This 
was not difficult to find in the skin of an aged 
person. 

His own original and favorite test, however, 
was to tie the thumb of the right hand to the 
great toe of the left foot, and thus secured, drag 
the victim through a river or pond; if the body 
floated, as it naturally would sustained by the 
rope, it was declared a sure proof that the poor 
creature must be a witch. 

His wonderful success at witch-finding, par- 
ticularly as he demanded of the authorities re- 
muneration for his efforts, finally aroused the 
suspicions of good citizens, and capturing the 
witch-finder-general, they tied his thumb and toe 


6 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


together as he had served others, and dragged 
him through the water, finding to their delight 
that neither did he sink. It is said that he pro- 
cured in one county alone, the deaths of three 
times as many people as perished in Salem’s 
whole persecution. ‘There were a few sporadic 
cases of supposed witchcraft in other parts of 
the colonies.1 William Penn presided at the 
trials of two Swedish women in Philadelphia for 
witchcraft, which was a capital offence by the 
laws of Pennsylvania and New York. Luckily 
for the City of Brotherly Love, the prisoners by 
some technicality, were acquitted ; for the flint 
and tinder were there and the spark struck, but: 
the spark went out and the conflagration pre- 
vented. 


1Margaret Jones was executed for witchcraft in Boston, 
June 15, 1648. Mrs. Ann Hibbins executed in Boston for the 
same offence, June 19, 1656, also Goody Glover, an Irish- 
woman, executed in Boston in 1688. Mary Parsons of Spring- 
field was tried, and convicted of witchcraft in 1651, but her 
execution is uncertain. 


CHAPRLER: TE. 
COLONIAL BELIEF IN THE CLOVEN HOOF. 


AVING looked into the minds of the people 
19) on both sides of the Atlantic and found 
them furnished with the same material, let us 
consider for a moment the aspect of the new 
country which the colonists of eastern Massachu- 
setts looked out upon, and see whether it was 
calculated to foster superstitious fears. 

Can we, from our luxurious position in the 
nineteenth century, with its multitude of inven- 
tions for making life easy, picture the hard toil 
which made existence possible to the early set- 
tlers? Before a man could raise a roof for the 
shelter of his family, he must hew down trees to — 
create space and timber. There could be no 

(7) 


8 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


fields or gardens till the stumps were burned and 
the interlacing roots destroyed. 

Instead of open streets they had a primeval 
forest ; noble indeed for the poet, but exceed- 
ingly inconvenient for the purposes of agriculture. 
No policemen to patrol the dark corners, no fire 
department to summon in distress ; but, behold, 
on the contrary, to disturb the peace and set fire 
to their homes, a race of dreaded beings whose 
fierce wild looks were only equalled by their 
cruelacts. ‘The Indian in his war paint and feath- 
ers, sending forth unearthly battle-cries, must 
have seemed to the homesick emigrants, as hid- 
eous a travesty on human kind, as the mythical 
dragon of older times was to the respectable 
animal world. 

The pioneer of to-day, making his home on a 
western prairie, knows none of these terrors. 
His farm is ready cleared to his hand, even fer- 
tilized, for nature has been enriching the soil for 
hundreds of years ; and, unless the pioneer has 


been audacious enough to plant himself and his 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 9 


crops near the small and diminishing Indian res- 
ervation, he sees naught of red skins. 

Here is a picture of the country and its in- 
habitants in 1692, painted by a sure hand. 

“The persecutions our ancestors had under- 
gone in their own country, and the privations al- 
together inconceivable to us they suffered during 
the early years of their residence here, acting 
upon their minds and characters, in codpera- 
tion with the influences of the political and 
ecclesiastical occurrences that marked the sev- 
enteenth century, had imparted a gloomy, sol- 
emn and romantic turn to their dispositions and 
associations which was transmitted without dimi- 
nution to their children, strengthened and agera- 
vated by their peculiar circumstances. It was 
the triumphant age of superstition. ‘The imagi- 
nation had been expanded by credulity, until it 
had reached a wild and monstrous growth. The 
Puritans were always prone to subject themselves 
to its influence ; and New England, at the time 


to which we are referring, was a most fit and 


fe) - SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


congenial theatre upon which to display its- 
power. Cultivation had made but a slight en- 
croachment on the wilderness. Wide, dark, un- 
explored forests covered the hills, hung over the 
lonely roads, and frowned upon the scattered set- 
tlements. Persons whose lives have been passed 
where the surface has long been opened, and the 
land generally cleared, little know the power of © 
a primitive wilderness upon the mind. ‘There 
is nothing more impressive than its sombre 
shadows and gloomy recesses. ‘The solitary wan - 
derer is ever and anon startled by the strange, mys- 
terious sounds that issue from its hidden depths. 
The distant fall of an ancient and decayed 
trunk, or the tread of animals as they prowl over 
the mouldering branches with which the ground 
is strewn ; the fluttering of unseen birds brushing 
through the foliage, or the moaning of the wind» 
sweeping over the topmost boughs,—these all 
tend to excite the imagination and solemnize the 
mind. But the stillness of a forest is more start- 


ling and awe-inspiring than its sounds. Its si- 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 11 


lence is so deep as itself to become audible to 
the inner soul. - It is not surprising that wooded 
countries have been the fruitful fountains and 
nurseries of superstition. 

‘In such a place as this, at such an hour, 

If ancestry can be in aught believed, 


Descending spirits have conversed with man, 


And told the secrets of the world unknown.’ 


The forests which surrounded our ancestors 
were the abode of a mysterious race of men of 
strange demeanor and unascertained origin. The 
aspects they presented, the stories told of them, 
and everything connected with them, served to 
awaken fear, bewilder the imagination, and ag- 
gravate the tendencies of the general condition 
of things to fanatical enthusiasm. It was the 
common belief sanctioned not by the clergy alone, 
but by the most learned scholars of that and the 
preceding ages, that the American Indians were 
the subjects and worshippers of the Devil.” 


The surroundings of the colonists at this time 


12 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


were not calculated to give them a very cheerful 
view of life certainly : pirates by sea, Indians by 
land, with taxes overhead and hard labor under 
their hand. What wonder, then, that such a peo- 
ple, with witchcraft taught them in their creed, 
when brought face to face with things they could 
not account for, should with horror believe that 
Satan had indeed come among them! 

We have said it was the popular belief of the 
day. Probably with the most moderate and con- 
servative of the citizens, it was like our own be- 
lief in the power of the lightning. We know 
there are dangerous thunderstorms and realize 
their deadly force ; but we never anticipate that 
we shall be the victims of a flash, particularly if 
we live in a house protected by a lightning-rod. 
So with the majority of those early settlers. They 
believed in witchcraft for their Bibles seemed to 
point to it, they read it there as plainly as that 
the sun stood still, and that Jonah passed three 
days comfortably ina whale. But they supposed, 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 13 


until forced to the contrary belief, that they 
would be free from such a curse, sheltered under 
a Christian faith, and blameless life. 

These made up the acquiescent portion of the 
community, for thus is society always made up. 
One part asserts, while the other finally assents 


to the ideas and opinions suggested. 


CHAPTIR TE: 
THE BEWITCHED CHILDREN. 


MONG the most active in the delusion, and 
in whose house the strange doings origi- 
nated which began the persecution, was the Rev. 
Samuel Parris. In early life he had been a mer- 
chant in the West Indies, and, on changing his 
livelihood from commerce to the Gospel, showed 
a most thrifty not to say grasping nature in all 
agreements pertaining to salary. His parishion- 
ers, who at first welcomed him gladly, became 
disaffected on perceiving his mercantile spirit 
preponderate over his zeal for winning souls, and 
we all know that, when disaffection begins, an- 
tipathy is apt to follow. At all events, there were 
disagreements and dissensions in the parish at 
Salem Village. 7 
(14) 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 15 


What was then known as Salem Village is now 
the town of Danvers, adjoining what is the pres- 
ent city of Salem. 

Mr. Parris brought with him from the West 
or Spanish Indies, three slaves, negro or Indian, 
probably of mixed blood ; two of them were con- 
cerned in the troubles that came later. 

Superstition, as we know, grows apace even in 
northern climes, while in the warm countries 
whence the Indian woman Tituba came, it flour- 
ished with the luxuriance of its own tropical 
plants. Doubtless this servant Tituba had many 
wierd tales of sorcery prevalent in her native tribe 
to tell the young people, which added to the 
superstition of the air they breathed, and the 
naughty imaginations in their own hearts bore 
most miserable fruit all too soon. | 

Let us look more closely at the “afflicted chil- 
dren,” whose mischief broadened into the trage- 
dy which is the saddest page of our American 
history. 

Elizabeth Parris, aged nine, Abigail Williams 


16 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


her cousin, aged eleven, Ann Putnam aged twelve, 
daughter of Sergeant Thomas Putnam the parish 
clerk, Mary Walcott, Mercy Lewis and Elizabeth 
Hubbard aged seventeen, with Elizabeth Booth 
Susannah Sheldon, Mary Warren and Sarah 
Churchill, two of whom, it should be noted, were 
servants in the families of those whom they ac- 
cused. Mrs. Ann Putnam, mother of Ann, was 
much wrought upon as the affair became more 
serious, and saw visions and bore testimony with 
the others. Indeed, the whole of this branch 
of the Putnam family appears to have been sin- 
gularly nervous and excitable. 

These young persons, having no dancing 
class or skating rinks to enliven their time, had 
been whiling away the winter evenings of ’g1 and 
’92, by meeting at Mr. Parris’ house and prac- 
tising palmistry and other magic arts which even 
in this steady age are more calculated to disturb 
the mind than to strengthen it. It is not very 
surprising then, that such young brains, created 


in a period when supernatural beings were ac- 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. k7 


cepted by the wisest, should become excited into 
a state of frenzy by their own disordered wills. 

We have heard much in our generation of the 
license and importance allowed to young Amer- 
ica as he perambulates his own and foreign 
lands ; but it must be owned, that young Amer- 
ica, as he lay in his cradle, contrived to turn the 
world about him upside down in a way he would 
not presume to do now that he is half grown. 

Therefore behold the three children first 
named, putting into practice the little tricks they 
had just learned. ‘They would creep into holes, 
and under chairs, put themselves into odd pos- 
tures, make antic gestures, and utter loud out- 
cries and ridiculous, incoherent and unintelligi- 
ble expressions.” 

Soon the attention of the family was attracted. 
We can almost fancy them saying “ What ails 
the children !”” Having attracted notice, we can 
readily believe that their strange doings became 
more violent, particularly as the effect on the pa- 
rental mind was not of an admonitory nature, but 


expressed bewilderment and dismay. 


18 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE, 


So the poor troubled parents, not knowing what. 
distressed the children, did just what we do now, 
sent for the doctor, and Griggs was the name of 
the medical man who caused more woe than any 
since. 

Now the whole trouble might be laid to the 
door of the physician who, not comprehending 
either maladies or human kind as well as the 
medical fraternity of the present day, solemnly 
and promptly ascribed the symptoms he did not 
understand, to causes no one else understood and 
yet believed in, namely, witchcraft. If children 
in our times should perform any strange capers 
not ascribable to either teething or measles, the 
family doctor called in would shake his head 
quite as gravely, but pronounce the trouble was 
the evident result of—indigestion. . 

Primitive people have always thought that. 
what they did not comprehend must be explained 
by supernatural agents, the phenomena in the 
heavens, or any of nature’s unrevealed secrets in 
the earth beneath. The savage tribes in the 


heart of Africa to-day, to whom the effects of 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 19g 


chemicals or our simplest modern inventions are 
shown, are greatly terrified, and may be brought 
to terms instantly, by the, to them, plain evi- 
dences of the power of wonder-working spirits. 

To return to the young girls, whom Dr. Griggs 
has just pronounced bewitched. Doubtless, at 
first, their antics were the result of wanton mis- 
chief mingled with that morbid desire to createa 
sensation which has been the fatal flaw in so 
many female characters. 

Mr. Parris and the Putnam parents, however, 
instead of feeling that the case demanded a rod, 
were deeply impressed by the serious situation, 
and tried to mend the matter by fasting and 
prayers. Neighboring ministers were called in 
and the girls performed before them, doubtless 
improving the quality of the acting at each re- 
hearsal. Fervent prayers did not avail much 
here; the ministers were horror-stricken with 
what they saw, and agreed with the physician, 
that the unfortunates from this time called ‘‘af- 
flicted children,’’ must indeed be under the in- 


fluence of the devil. 


20 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


This being the awful case, who had been the 
means of bewitching them? The dark mystery 
must be unravelled, and the children were en- 
treated and importuned to tell. ‘They did not at 
first accuse any one; very likely they never 
thought of doing so until it was suggested to them, 
or may be they were looking about for some 
safely obscure person on whom to cast the blame. 
But being besought for name or names, they 
cried out “Good,” “Osburn,” “Tituba.” 

Just here the mischief ceased, and the misery 
began which deepened into a darkness neither 


two hundred nor two thousand years can lighten. 


CHAPTER EV. 


THREE ARRESTS. 


MAGINE the pitch of excitement and terror 
which prevailed in the community, at the real- 
ization that three witches were acknowledged to 
be among them! A menagerie let loose was as 
nothing compared to this danger ; bolts and bars 
might serve as a defence from beasts of prey, 
but neither doors nor distance could protect one 
from the wiles of a witch. 
, On the 29th of February, warrants were duly 
/ issued against Sarah Good, Sarah Osburn, and 
| the Indian woman Tituba. The complainants 
in these cases were Joseph Hutchinson, Edward 
Putnam, Thomas Putnam and Thomas Preston, 
all men of influence and of good character. 
“Joseph Hutchinson was a firm-minded man, of 


(21) 


22 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


Y) 


strong common sense,” Edward Putnam was 
“Deacon” Putnam, a title of weight in those days, 
Thomas Putnam was the father of Ann, and 
Thomas Preston was a son-in-law of Francis 
Nurse. Of the Nurses we shall hear more later. 

It never occurred to any one apparently that 
the girls were playing a part, and under the com- 
fortable disguise of bewitched persons they might 
commit any folly or wickedness that occurred to 
them. On one occasion, on the Lords’ Day, 
March zoth, when the singing of the psalm pre- 
vious to the sermon was concluded; before the 
person preaching — Mr. Lawson — could come 
forward, Abigail Williams cried out, “N ow stand 
up and name your text.” When he had read it, 
in a loud and insolent voice she exclaimed, “Its 
a long text.’’ In the midst of the discourse, 
Mrs. Pope (an occasional performer) broke in, 
‘‘Now there is enough of that.” In the after- 
noon of the same day, while referring to the 
doctrine he had been expounding in the pre- 


ceding service, Abigail Williams rudely ejacu- 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 23 


lated “I know no doctrine you had. If you did 
name one, I have forgot it.’ An aged member 
of the church was present against whom a war- 
rant on the charge of witchcraft had been pro- 
cured the day before. Being apprised of the 
proceeding, Abigail Williams spoke aloud, dur- 
ing the service, calling by name the person about 
to be apprehended, “Look where she sits upon 
the beam sucking her yellow-bird betwixt her 
fingers!’ Ann Putnam. joined in exclaiming, 
“There is a yellow bird sitting on the minister’s 
hat, as it hangs on the pin in the pulpit.” Mr. 
Lawson remarks, with much simplicity, that these 
things, occurring “in the time of public wor- 
ship, did something interrupt me in my first 
prayer, being so unusual.” ‘There is no intima- 
tion that Mr. Parris rebuked his niece for her 
disorderly behavior. The girls were supposed 
to be under an irresistible and supernatural im- 
pulse ; and instead of being severely punished, 
were looked upon with mingled pity, terror and 


awe, and made objects of the greatest attention. 


24 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


From this it may be seen that the girls had 
grown much bolder in their attempts to delude 
the public. It seems a long way from “creep- 
ing into holes” to interrupting the church ser- 
vices ; from ‘‘uttering incoherent noises,” to 
making declarations against innocent persons 
which led to arrest and prison. A study of the 
subject shows that there was a steady progres - 
sion in three ways as the delusion increased in 
its deadly power. 

First, in the capabilities of the girls for being 
tormented, as they soon added fits, faints and 
ravings, to their accomplishments. 

Second, in the class of people whom they ac- 
cused, beginning with a poor homeless wanderer 
whom no one cared for, and finally numbering 
among the victims saintly Christians and a Chris- 
tian minister. 

Third, in the things which they claimed the 
supposed witch had done: at first they declared 
they were pinched and teased; later on, as in 
the case of the unfortunate clergyman, there were 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 25 


visions of horrible murders committed by him, 


blood and plenty of it would alone content them 


in their testimony against the accused. 





hey themselves w even scorched. 

It should be stated that, after the first com- 
motion, the Parris child was removed from the 
scene, and taken to some quiet place of retire- 
ment. 

sarah Good, the first person accused in the 
delusion, was a forlorn specimen of womankind, 
a wife, though alienated from her husband, a 
mother, with no means to supply the wants of 
her children, she was reduced to begging from 
her more prosperous neighbors. No beggar is 
ever a popular citizen, and with or without rea- 
son, there was a decided prejudice against Sarah 
Good. Sarah Osburn was another poor creature 


whose life had been marred, and of whom gos- 
2 


26 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


sip, the oldest inhabitant of any place, had talked 
freely. Her second marriage was unhappy, 
which so depressed her that her mind, dwelling 
upon that and her changed fortunes, became un- 
balanced. She was also ill and had been bed- 
ridden. 

Neither of these poor women had any hold up- 
on popular esteem orsympathy. They were un- 
lovely and unloved ; and, were it possible for the 
fanaticism to break out afresh to-day, we could 
easily find among us certain distressed and un- 
popular old women on whom it would’ be equal- 
ly safe for the shaft to fall. 

In selecting Tituba as one of the causes of 
their trouble, the children were more than half 
right, for doubtless she Had filled their heads 
with all sorts of superstitious notions, and though 
she believed in witches and charms, she did not 
at first take kindly to the idea that she was a 
witch herself. 


CHAPTER V. 


A I7TH CENTURY EXAMINATION. 


HE arrests made, the examinations of the 

prisoners must follow, and March 1, the two 
principal magistrates of the day and neighbor- 
hood, with great pomp and display of official 
power, appeared on the scene ; these were Jona- 
than Corwin and John Hathorne. A great crowd 
assembled in the meeting-house to witness the 
novel and dreadful proceedings, the minutes of 
which are found among the files. 


The examination of Sarah Good before the 
worshipful Esgrs., John Hathorne and Jonathan 
Corwin. 

“Sarah Good, what evil spirit have you fami- 
liarity with >—None. 

(27) 


28 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


‘“‘Have you made no contracts with the Devil? 
—No. 

“Why do you hurt these children ?—I do not 
hurt them. I scorn it. 

“Who do you employ then to do it?—I em- 
ploy nobody. 

“What creature do you employ then?—No 
creature ; but I am falsely accused. 

“Why do you go away muttering from Mr. 
Parris his house?—I did not mutter, but I 
thanked him for what he gave my child. 

‘‘Ffave you made no contract with the Devil? 
—No.” 

Hathorne desired the children, all of them to 
look upon her, and see if/this were the person 
that hurt them ; and so they all did look upon her, 
and said this was one of the persons that did 
torment them. Presently they were all tormented. 

«Sarah Good, do you not see now what you 
have done? Why do you not tell us the truth? 
Why do you thus torment these poor children ?— 


I do not torment them. 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. © 29 


“Who do you employ then?—I employ no- 
body. I scorn it. | 

“How came they thus tormented >—What do 
I know? You bring others here, and now you 
charge me with it. 

“Why, who was it?—I do not know but it was 
some you brought into the meeting-house with you. 

“We brought you into the meeting-house.— 
But you brought in two more. 

‘Who was it then that tormented the chil- 
dren ?—It was Osburn. 

“What was it you say when you go muttering 
away from persons’ houses?—If I must tell, I 
will tell. 

“To tell us then.—If I must tell, I will tell; 
it is the Commandments. I may say my Com- 
mandments, I hope. 

“What commandment is it?-—If I must tell 
you I will tell; it is a psalm. 

“What Psalm? 

“(After a long time she muttered over some 

part of a psalm.) 


“Who do you serve >—I serve God. 


30 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


“What God do you serve?—The God that 
made heaven and earth” (though she was not 
willing to mention the word “God”’). Her answers 
were in a very wicked, spiteful manner, reflecting 
against the authority with base and abusive 
words ; and many lies she was taken in. It was 
here said that her husband had said that he was 
afraid that she either was a witch or would be 
one very quickly. The worshipful Mr. Hathorne 
asked him his reason why he said,so of her, 
whether he had ever seen anything by her. He 
answered “No, not in this nature,” butit was her 
bad carriage to him ; and indeed, said he, ‘I may 
say with tears, that she is an enemy to all good.” 

This was in the handwriting of Ezekiel Chee- 
ver. His translation of her answers is surpris- 
ing to an average reader, who can find nothing 
in the examination but the badgering of a de- 
spondent woman, who however tries hard to keep 
to the truth. Her only flash of spirit is in the 
retort—“I may say my Commandments I hope” — 
roused for once out of her hopeless apathy. 


After having protested her innocence many times 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 31 


and it seemed to avail her nothing, when the only 
way of escape appears to be to fasten the guilt 
on some one else, she takes the suggestion, of- 
fered her, and declares “Osburn” is the tormen- 
tor. She grasps the idea as a life-saving plank 
by which she may reach a place of safety, for- 
getful of the fact that by so doing she pushes 
another into the deep waters. 

“Tt will be noticed that the examination was 
conducted in the form of questions but by the 
magistrate, Hathorne, based upon a foregone 
conclusion of the prisoner’s guilt, and expres- 
sive of a conviction, all along on his part, that the 
evidence of “ the afflicted” against her amounted 
to, and was, absolute demonstration. It will also 
be noticed, that, severe as was the opinion of her 
husband in reference to her general conduct, he 
could not be made to say that he had ever no- 
ticed anything in her of the nature of witchcraft. 
The torments the girls affected to experience, in 
looking at her, must have produced an over- 


whelming effect on the crowd, as they did on the 


32 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


magistrate, and even on the poor amazed crea- 
ture *herselt.. She did not seem to ydoubtathe 
reality of their sufferings. In this, and in all 
cases, it must be remembered that the account 
of the examination comes from those who were 
under the wildest excitement against the prison- 
ers ; that no counsel was allowed them! ; that, if 
anything was suffered to be said in their defence 
by others, it failed to reach us ; that the accused 
persons were wholly unaccustomed to such scenes 
and exposures, unsuspicious of the perils of a 
cross-exainination, or of an inquisition conduct- 
ed with a design to entrap and ensnare ; and that 
what they did say was liable to be misunderstood, 
as well as misrepresented.” 

Sarah Osburn was then brought in. Frail in 
body.and feeble in mind, she yet had strength 


enough to maintain her innocence of the charges 


1This was by the laws of England in force at that time. 
Counsel were not allowed in capital cases, excepting on 
questions of law where the Court was in doubt. The Judge 
was supposed,to be counsel for the prisoners. 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 33 


made against her. The second examination was 
very like the first in the nature of the questions 
put to the prisoners, and marked by the same 
unfairness. 

When the poor creature was told that Sarah 
Good had declared that it was she who had hurt 
the children, her only reply was, “‘I do not know 
that the Devil goes about in my likeness to do 
any hurt.” 

She was committed to prison and heavily 
chained. From March 7th to May roth she lan- 
guished in Boston jail, when death, more con- 
siderate than man, released her from her bonds. 

The examination of Tituba, the Indian woman, 
is curiously enlivened by her imagination. With 
all her ignorance and superstition she is clever, 
and by confessing somewhat, and implicating 
others, she played into the hands of those who 
were only too glad to find witches trumps. 

At first, she says she did not and would not_ 
hurt the children. Then perceiving it would be 


very pleasing to the popular feeling to have 


34 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


witches discovered, she presently says there were 
four who did hurt the children. Soon she admits 
she had hurt the children but was sorry and 
would not do so any more. So she confesses ; 
and facts giving out, she takes out her fancies 
and lets them loose. ‘They are in the form of 
flying and creeping things as will be seen, and it 
the tales told the children nightly were filled 
with the same uncanny shapes, it would be sin- 
gular if their pliable brains were not put out of 
shape somewhat. 

‘‘Tituba, what evil spirit have you familiarity 
with Pp—None. 

“Why d> you hurt these children?—I do not 
hurt them. 

“Who is it then >—The Devil, for aught I know. 

“Did you never see the Devil?—The Devil 
came to me and bid me serve him. 

“Who have you seen?—Four women some- 
time hurt the children. 

“Who were they ?—Goody Osburn and Sarah 


Good, and I do not know who the others were. 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 35 


Sarah Good and Osburn would have me hurt 
the children, but J would not. 

“(She further saith there was a tall man of 
Boston that she did see.) 

“When did you see them?—Last night at 
Boston. 

“What did they say to youP—They said ‘hurt 
the children.’ 

‘And did you hurt them ?—No, there is four 
women and one man, they hurt the children and 
then they lay all upon me; and they tell me, if I 
will not hurt the children, they will hurt me. 

“But did you not hurt them ?—Yes ; but I will 
hurt them no more. 

“Are you not sorry that you did hurt them ?— 
WES. 

“And why, then, do you hurt them ?>—They say 
‘hurt children, or we will do worse to you.’ 

‘‘What have you seenP—A man come to me 
and say, ‘serve me.’ 

“What service ?—Hurt the children ; and last 


night there was an appearance that said ‘kill the 


36 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


children ;’ and if I would not go on hurting the 
children, they would do worse to me. 

‘‘What is this appearance you see ?—Some- 
times it is like a hog, and sometimes like a great 
dog. 

‘“‘(This appearance she saith she did see four 
times.) 

“What did it say to you?—The black dog said 
‘serve me,’ but I said, ‘I am afraid.’ He said 
if I did not, he would do worse to me. 

‘‘What did you say to it?—I will serve you no 
longer. Then he said he would hurt me; and 
then he looks like a man, and threatens to hurt 
me. (She said that this man had a yellow bird 
that kept with him.) And he told me he had 
more pretty things that he would give me if I 
would serve him. 

“What were these pretty things >—He did not 
show me them. 

‘‘What else have you seen?—Two cats ; a red 
cat and a black cat. 

“What did they say to you?—They said, 


‘serve me.’ 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. Beh 


“When did you see them?—Last night; and 





they said, ‘serve me,’ but I said I would not. 

“What service >—She said, hurt the children. 

“Did you not pinch Elizabeth Hubbard this 
morning?— The man brought her to me and 
made pinch her. 

“Why did you go to Thomas Putnam’s last 
night and hurt his child ?—They pull and haul 
me, and make go. 

“And what would they have youdo ?—Kill ner 
with a knife. 

‘*(Lieutenant Fuller and others said at this time 
when the child saw these persons, and was tor- 
mented by them, that she did complain of a 
knife, that they would have her cut her head off 
with a knife.) 

‘How did you go ?—We ride upon sticks and 
are there presently. 

“To you go through the trees or over them? 
—We see nothing, but are there presently. | 

“Why did you not tell your master?—I was 


38 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


afraid ; they said they would cut offmy head if I 
told. | 

“Would you not have hurt others if you could? 
—They said they would hurt others, but they 
could not. 

“What attendants hath Sarah Good ?—A yel- 
low-bird, and she would have given me one. 

‘What meat would she give it?—It did suck 
her between her fingers. 

“Did you not hurt Mr. Curran’s child?— 
Goody Good and Goody Osburn told that they 
did hurt Mr. Curran’s child, and would have had 
me hurt him too ; but I did not. 

“What hath Sarah Osburn?—Yesterday, she 
had a thing like a woman, with two legs and 
wings. 

“(Abigail Williams, that lives with her uncle, 
Mr. Parris, said that she did see the same crea- 
ture, and it turned into the shape of Goodie 
Osburn.) 


“What else have you seen with Osburn ?— 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 39 


Another thing, hairy ; it goes upright like a man, 
it hath only two legs. 

“Tid you not see Sarah Good upon Elizabeth 
Hubbard last Saturday ?—I did see her set a wolf 
upon her to afflict her. 

“(The persons with this maid did say that she 
did complain of a wolf. She further said that 
she saw a cat with Good at another time.) 

‘‘What clothes did the man go in?—He goes 
in black clothes; a tall man with white hair, I 
think. 

“Flow doth the woman go?—In a white hood 
and a black hood with a top-knot. 

“Do you see who it is that torments these 
children now? —Yes, it is Goody Good; she 
hurts them in her own shape. 

Who is it hurts them now ?—I am blind now ; 
I cannot see.”’ 


CHAPTER V1- 
THE COLONY BEWITCHED. 


HE story of the witchcraft grows so awful, that 
soon, our sense of pity fairly pities itself, 

that it must see such misery for the innocent. 
But just here, comes a wondering compassion 
for these grave magistrates and reverend minis- 

fers! ou 

To see them listening with respectful attention 
to the nonsense of Tituba, drinking in with won- 
derment all her wild statements of broomsticks 
and hairy things, somehow gives onea disturbed 
feeling as to his ancestors ; we have felt hitherto 
that each “great” appended to a grandparent 
was a guarantee of wisdom and deserved honor, 
but this picture of the ignorant but wily woman 


(40) 


th 





ee 


flathany 
Hooton oesshipt 


Sold Ylecby 





SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. ae 


gulling the sober fathers as easily as she had the 
children, is a sorrowful one. 

The unlearned slave feigns blindness when 
she does not wish to answer, but her judges and 
superiors are totally blind, and yet unconscious 
of it. 

Robert Calef was a merchant of Boston, and 
in nowise personally interested in the trials. “His 
attention was called to the proceedings which 
originated in Salem Village ; and his strong facul- 
ties and moral courage enabled him to become 
the most efficient opponent, in his day, of the 
system of false reasoning upon which the prose- 
cutions rested.”’ ‘The only further information 
we have of Tituba is from this same Calef, who 
says, “The account she since gives of it is, that 
her master did beat her, and otherwise abuse her, 
tg make her confess and accuse (such as he 
called) her sister-witches ; and that whatsoever 
she said by way of confessing or accusing others 
was the effect of such usage.” 

One word of justice for Sarah Good. It ap- 


42 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


peared in the minutes of her examination, that 
she accused Sarah Osburn of witchcraft ; but as 
no such accusation is found in the final records, 
it is probable that the statement was an exaggera- 
tion of some bewildered words of hers, on per- 
ceiving the torments of the children. “Then it 
must be Osburn for I know I am innocent of this 
thing” was doubtless wrung from her involunta- 
rily. 

Let us understand fully what it was thought the 
witch of 1692 could do, and how she would do it. 

As the excitement grew more intense and vic- 
tims accumulated, the scheme of the nature and 
dominion of the devil’s agent broadened infi- 
nitely. Indeed, looking back from this distance, 
it would seem asif her capabilities were extended 
so absurdly in order that none might escape. 
_ It was believed that after having made her 
evil compact, the witch set about tormenting 
others, either for the purpose of destroying their 
souls and handing them over to Satan, or of sim- 


ply hurting their bodies for her own diversion. 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 43 


If she did not go in her own personality on a 
tormenting hunt, she had imps at her disposal to 
do naughty work. ‘These took the form of cats, 
dogs, spiders even, or indeed, any animal at hand 
where unusual occurrences took place would be 
thought the imp of an absent witch. She could 
cause her victims to pine away and die, or to go 
into convulsions and delirium—there were no 
limits to her power. 

If it were not convenient for her to go in per- 
son nor to send an imp, all she had to do, when 
she intended harm, was to make up a puppet 
representing the individual she would hurt, and 
do whatsoever she would have done to the far off 
original, to this bundle cf rags; it was just as 
efficacious. 

No alibi therefore could save a person ac- 
cused, nor circumstantial evidence protect from. 
an ensnaring net which covered the ground wher- 
ever he would step. 

With such a revelation open to the people, 
and its facts verified before their eyes by the 


44 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


afflictions of the afflicted children, what wonder 
that nothing else was thought of, that industry 
lay idle, while horror and dread stalked over the 
land day and night ! 

If all pestilence comes from microbes, surely 
the microbes of superstition were then abroad, 
tainting in its most malignant form, the pure 
country air of Salem Village. 

The meeting-house, hitherto as sacred to the 
New Englander as the tabernacle to the early 
Jew, became the theatre of the most extraordi- 
nary scenes ever enacted upon any stage. 


““Assoon as the wretched prisoner was brought 
Pp g 


‘before her accusers, the girls uttered loud screams 


‘and fell down upon the floor. If in her terror 


and despair she happened to clasp her hands, 
they would shriek out that she was pinching them. 


,When she pressed in agony her withered lip, 


they exclaimed that she was biting them, and 


would show the marks of her teeth upon their 
flesh. If the dreadful excitement of the scene, 


added to the feebleness of age, exhausted and 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 45 


overcome her, and she happened to lean for sup- 
port against the side of the pew or the aisle, they 
would cry out that their bodies were crushed ; 
and if she changed her position, or took a single 
step, they would declare that their feet were in 
pain. In this manner they artfully produced a 
strong conviction in the minds of the deluded 
magistrates and excited by-standers.”’ 

The accusing girls would complain that pins 
were pricked into their flesh, and in proof of the 
witch’s malice, the pins were produced in Court. 
Those identical pins may be seen to day in the 
Court House. ‘They are kept in a small bottle 
protected by the County seal, for they diminished 
mysteriously when guarded by the cork alone. 
They are somewhat rusty, as what witness would 
not be after such a lapse of time; made as they 
were in those days, with heads formed of twisted 
wire,—the most famous pins in all history. 

The house, still standing, known popularly as" 
the “‘Witch’’ house, at the corner of Essex and 


North streets, was two hundred years ago the 


46 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


residence of Jonathan Corwin, the magistrate, and 
it is supposed that some of the examinations 
took place there. It was altered a hundred years 
ago, so that the thousands of visitors, who come 
annually to gaze with awe upon its front, do not 
see its face as the poor prisoners saw it when they 
were hurried within, though the woodwork and 
beams are unchanged. Rather grim it looks 
brooding over the past, with the witchcraft of 
the nineteenth century, electric cars and electric 
lights flaunting before it. Its old age is a harm- 
less one, for nothing more impish goes from there 
now than Witch Hazel, which the apothecary 


will sell you from one part of the ancient build- 
ing. . 


CHAPTER VIL: 
THE MINISTERS. 


HIS supposed attack of the evil one upon the 
Lord’s sheep gave the valiant young shep- 
herds much to do ; for as the trouble came from the 
spiritual world, by the spiritual pastors and mas- 
ters it must be met. ‘They felt they must battle 
fearlessly against this new sin,no matter where it 
was seen springing up. It must be rooted out 
and destroyed even if fair gardens were brought 
to ruin. 

The earnestness of the majority concerned in 
the trials and examinations arose, doubtless, from 
a sincere conviction that they were at war with 
the enemies of the Almighty, and that they were 
emulating King David by putting them to rout. 

We have always felt that the Psalmist partially 

(47) 


48 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


gratified his own feelings while avenging the 
cause of the Lord, and this human element of 
finding wrong where we believe it to be was not 
lacking in the breasts of some of the deluded 
ministers. 

None were so untiring in the pursuit of witch- 
craft as the Rev. Mr. Parris. He felt it was his 
duty to labor day and night in the cause, and he 
did so. Had he been a broader man, with be- 
nevolence as prominent a trait as conscientious- 
ness, he would not have unconsciously played 
the part of a persecutor. For one thing we must 
thank him, and it redounds to. his credit as a sin- 
cere though mistaken man, that he transcribed 
so literally the examinations of many of the ac- 
cused. We can realize how faithfully he did his 


work because we see innocence in the replies of 


the accused ; and had he been less truthful in his - 


record, or conscious that he was in the wrong, he 
would have twisted and prevaricated his account. 
The Rev. Nicholas Noyes of the First Church, 


Salem, was another active participant in the pro- 


» Toe us 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 49 


ceedings. Had he lived later, he might have 
been a successful revivalist ; or earlier, a popish 
inquisitor ; for he had certain intense qualities 
which would make either. His venerable col- 
league, the Rev. John Higginson, was much more 
moderate in his course. Not because he did 
rot believe in witchcraft, for then, the power of 
darkness was as evident to the mind as the reality 
of sunlight, but because of his strong faith in per- 
sonal worth, and the testimony of a blameless 
life. 

Such also was the attitude of the Rev. Samuel 
Willard of the Old South Church, Boston, who 
was fair-minded enough to critically examine the 
witnesses of a similar case brought to his notice. 
That any one should presume to take a critical 
view of the proceedings was displeasing to the 
afflicted children; and, as the storywill show, 
any person, ‘old enough to find fault with the 
course things were taking, was marked for mis- 
fortune. 

This same Mr. Willard was one of the most 

3 


50 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


learned and best beloved of his generation in the 
ministry. One of the accusing girls, not com- 
prehending how universally he was held in rever- 
ence, but perceiving that he held aloof from the 
popular delirium, presently “cried out’”’ upon him. 
This was a rash venture, as the mark was too 
high for the shaft to reach and it fell harmless ; 
the girl was taken out of court ‘‘and it was told 
about that she was mistaken in the person.” 

The Rev. John Hale of Beverly gave neigh- 
borly help in the matter, though not so violent 
an advocate in the delusion as some ; it will be 
seen later, how and why he was the first to awake 
from the frenzied nightmare. 

The name of Cotton Mather must always be 
associated with this melancholy period of our 
history. He did his best to incite and. provoke 
an excitement in Boston similar to the one in 
Salem, and failing in this he never lost an oppor- 
tunity to fan the flame already raging so near his 
own city. He was ambitious, and would be lead- 


ing sword in hand to annihilate some one or some 


oe 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 51 


thing. Inthe name of God he would conquer, 
and make Cotton Mather famous. Most men 
hope to become angels, but nothing, if we may 
judge from his own words, would have contented 
him but to be an Archangel. 

In his virulence against all accused persons, he 
seems an embodiment of the prophecy ‘‘Yea, the 
time cometh when whosoever killeth.you, will 
think that he doeth God service.” 

And were there none then who saw clearly 
through the deadly mist, no men wiser than their 
time? The names of three clear-eyed souls can 
be given, who, seeing things ‘as they were, boldly 
protested against the imposture: Martha Corey, 
John Procter and Joseph Putnam, and of the 
three it is significant that two were executed. 

It will be remembered that Tituba had said 
there were four women who did afflict the chil- 
dren, and it was necessary to find the other two. 
By this time the accusers were brazen and mali- 
cious, so intoxicated by the evil they were steep- 


ing themselves in, as to be lost to all sense of 


52 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


feeling for others: it would be vastly more com- 
fortable for the reader to believe them stark 
mad and in no way responsible for the crimes 
they were begetting. Yet this is impossible as 
we detect the cunning and the heartless cruelty 
of their acts and words. They were now mas- 
ters of the situation ; savage autocrats, who when 
their own ingenuity failed, would take hints from 
advising spite and prejudice as to the next vic- 


tim. 


- eh, FO. ie 


CihaPTEROVILE 


GILES COREY’S INFATUATION—MARTHA COREY. 


MONG unpopular men in Salem Village was 
R Giles Corey, now over fourscore years of 
age. According to the belief of his neighbors, 
they had not been godly years, but whether he 
was as dangerous as they claimed for him, or 
whether he was one of those who have a faculty 
for always putting themselves in the worst possi- 
ble light can never be exactly known. We in- 
cline, however, to the feeling that his faults were 
much exaggerated. Whatever his early life had ~ 
been Giles Corey, in spite of his brusque ways, 
had evidently meant to mend his reputation and 
conduct, and had joined the church shortly be- 
fore this period. He became greatly interested 


(53) 


54 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


in the witchcraft proceedings, and attended all 
the meetings. His mind was one of those to 
whom the dark deeds of sin would have a more 
powerful influence than the passive radiance of 
virtue. 

Not so, his wife Martha. She had no patience 
with the fanatical doings, and no hesitancy in ex- 
pressing her views. Her intellect was clear and 
vigorous, her living pure and devout. Giles an- 
noyed her much by his diligent attendance upon 
the meetings, and on one occasion it was said 
that she hid her husband’s saddle to prevent him 
from going. ‘This difference of opinion made a 
breach between husband and wife, and in his 
anger at her scoffing at matters so absorbing to 
him, he made statements which became the 
weapons of her destruction. 

But when his eyes were opened, we shall see 
with what superhuman courage he expiated the 
wrong done to her. So, while he went to the 
meetings, and on the way to and fro saw all 


things distorted by supernatural agents, she re- 


a tone 2 y, 
a ee 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. ~° 55 


mained at home to pray for the deluded people. 
Soon it was rumored about that a person pro- 
fessing great piety would be exposed as one of 
these deadly sinners, and on the 19th of March, 
Martha Corey was arrested. 

Even to-day, the criminal who has masked in 
godliness is considered-the most despicable, and 
the horror of the community at finding a pro- 
fessing Christian could be in league with the 
devil was intense. 

The examination of Martha Corey, inthe hand- 
writing of Mr. Parris, is of considerable length, 
but a few extracts will be given from it which 
may illustrate her character. 

“Tf you be guilty of this fact, do you think you 
can hide it?—The Lord knows. 

“Well, tell us what you know of this matter.— 
Why, I am a gospel woman, and do you think I 
can have to do with witchcraft too? 

“(Children : There is a man whispering in her 
ear.) 

“Hathorne continued: What did he say to 


56 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


you?—We must not believe all that these dis- 
tracted children say. 

“Cannot you tell what that man whispered ?— 
I saw nobody. 

“But did you hear ?—No. 

“(Here was extreme agony of the afflicted.) 

“If you expect mercy of God, you must look 
for it in God’s way, by confession. Do you think 
to find mercy by aggravating your sins ?—A true 
thing. 

“Look for it, then, in God’s way.—So I do. 

‘Give glory to God and confess then.—But I 
cannot confess. 

“Do you not see how these afflicted charge 
your—We must not believe distracted persons. 

“Here are more than two that accuse you for 
witchcraft. What do you say ?—I am innocent. 

“(Then Mr. Hathorne read further of Crosby’s 
evidence.) 

“What did you mean by that? the Devil could 
not stand before you?—(She denied it. Three 


or four sober witnesses confirmed it.) 





SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 57 


“What can I do? Many rise up against me. 

“Do you believe these children are bewitched ? 
—They may, for aught I know: I have no hand 
in it. 

“Vou say you are nowitch. May be you mean 
you never covenanted with the Devil. Did you 
never deal with any familiar >—No, never. 

‘What bird was that the children spoke of? 
“(Then witnesses spoke: What bird was it?)— 
I know no bird. 

“Tt may be you have engaged you will not con- 
fess : but God knows.—So He doth. 

“Do you believe you will go unpunished ?— 
I have nothing to do with witchcraft. 

“Why was you not willing your husband should 
come to the former session here >—But he came, 
for all. 

“Did you not take the saddle off?—I did not 
know what it was for. 

“Did you not know what it was for?—I did 
not know it would be to any benefit. 

‘‘(Somebody said that she would not have them 


help to find witches.) 


58 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


“Did you not say you would open our eyes? 
Why do you not?—I never thought of a witch. 

“Ts it a laughing matter to see these afflicted 
persons? 

“(She denied it. Several prove it.) 

“Ye are all against me, and I cannot help it. 

“Tf find you will own nothing without several 
witnesses, and yet you will deny for all. 

“(It was noted, when she bit her lip, several 
of the afflicted were bitten. When she was urged 
upon it that she had bitten her lip, saith she, 
What harm is there in it ?) 

“(Mr. Noyes: I bslieve it is apparent she prac- 
tiseth witchcraft in the congregation ; there is no 
need of images.) 

“What do you say to all these things that are 
apparent ?—If you will all go hang me, how can 
Tshelpaty? 

Her answers indicate an alert but temperate 
mind, with firm faith in God. Frequently dur- 
ing the course of the examination she asked per- 
mission to go and pray, and asseverated many 


times, “Iam an innocent person.” “Iama 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 59 


~~ 


gospel woman.” ‘This desire of hers to pray 
evidently disconcerted the court at first, but the 
devotions were accounted for after a time as be- 
ing addressed to the devil. 

In some respects, her attitude differs from any 
other as she stands before this deluded multi- 
tude. Her piety was just as true as that of later 
victims, but she does not believe in witchcraft. 
Her tongue is as well trained by her keen intel- 
lect as that of clever prisoners who followed, but she 
never once railsat her tormentors as did the caus- 
tic Susannah Martin, though it must have been a 
great temptation from her enlightened standpoint. 
The moderation and calmness of Martha Corey 
are the successful tests of her faith. 

Yet how great was her provocation. As if it 
were not enough to have the world against her, 
her husband and her two sons-in-law were on the 
enemies’ side. Poor old Giles ! his tardy religion, 
meeting the new excitement, made a combina- 
tion too strong for the domestic peace, and his 


talk on the subject, doubtless poured forth with 


60 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


the impetuosity characteristic of the man, was put 
into a deposition found among the documents. 

“The evidence of Giles Corey testifieth and 
saith, that last Saturday, in the evening, sitting 
by the fire, my wife asked me to go to bed. I 
told her I would go to prayer; and when I went 
to prayer, I could not utter my desires with any 
sense, nor open my mouth to speak. 

“My wife did perceive it, and came towards 
me, and said she was coming to me. 

“After this, in a little space, I did, according 
to my measure, attend the duty. 

“Sometime last week, I fetched an ox, well, 
out of the wood about noon ; and he laying down 
in the yard, I went to raise him to yoke him ; but 
he could not rise, but dragged his hinder parts, 
as if he had been hip-shot. But after did rise. 

“I had a cat sometimes last week strangely 
taken on the sudden, and did make me think 
she would have died presently. My wife did bid 
me knock her in the head, but I did not; and 


since, she is well. 





7 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 61 


‘‘Another time, going to duties, I was inter- 
rupted for a space ; but afterward I was helped 
according to my poor measure. My wife hath 
been wont to sit up after I went to bed; and I 
have perceived her to kneel down on the hearth, 
as if she were at’ prayer, but heard nothing. 

“At the examination of Sarah Good and 
others, March 24", 1692, my wife was willing” 

This is all. The trivial events of every day 
life, with the lurid light of the hour thrown upon 
them, were distorted into impish acts. This 
light burned out, we can see nothing, but the or- 
dinary doings of a New England farmhouse as 
it stands in the broad light of day. 

That an old man could not say his prayers 
even seemed diabolical. 

Martha Corey was committed to prison; was 
tried and received sentence of death Sept. 9, she 
being one of the eight executed on the 22nd of 
September. 7 

Of her death Calef informs us that she “pro- 
testing her innocency concluded her life with an 


eminent prayer upon the ladder.” 


GHAPIER IX. 
GILES COREY’S EXPIATION. 


HETHER the deposition of Corey was 

abruptly broken off because he feared it 
might incriminate his wife, or whether it was 
thought by the prosecution that the testimony 
did not incriminate her sufficiently cannot be 
known. 

Even an obtuse observer may have remarked 
by this time, that the whole court and all the 
spectators appeared to be on the side of the 
prosecution. 

“Giles Corey incurred hostility, perhaps, 
because his deposition relating to his wife did 
not come up to the mark required. It is also 
highly probable, that though incensed at her con- 
duct at the time, reflection had brought him to 


(62) 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 63 


his senses ; and that the circumstances of her ex- 
amination and commitment to prison produced 
areaction on his mind. If so, he would have 
been apt to express himself very ireely., esto, 
was arrested and his examination took place 
April 19, in nature very like those which pre- 
ceded. 

“Three days before the execution of his wife, 
the life of Giles Corey had been taken by the 
officers of the law in a manner so extraordinary, 
and marked by features so shocking, that they 
find no parallel in the annals of America, and 
will continue to arrest forever the notice of man- 
kind. ‘The only papers relating to him, on file 
as having been sworn to before the Grand Jury, 
are a few brief depositions. If he had been put 
on trial, we might have had more. ‘There is 
reason to believe, that while in prison, he ex- 
perienced great distress of mind. Although he 
had been a rough character in earlier life, and . 
given occasion to much scandal by his disregard 


of public opinion, he always exhibited symptoms 


64 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


of a generous and sensitive nature. His foolish 
conduct in becoming so passionately engaged in 
the witchcraft proceedings at their earliest stage, 
as to be incensed against his wife because she 
did not approve of or believe in them, and which 
led him-to utter sentiments and expressions that 
had been used against her; and so far yielding 
to the accusers as to allow them to get from him 
the deposition, which, while it failed to satisfy 


their demands, it was shameful for him to have 





been persuaded to give,—all these things, which 
after his own apprehension and imprisonment 
he had leisure to ponder over, preyed on his 
mind. He saw the awful character of the delu- 
sion to which he had lent himself; that it had 
brought his prayerful and excellent wife to the 
sentence of death, which had been already exe- 
cuted upon many devout and worthy persons. 
He knew that he was innocent of the crime of 
witchcraft, and was now satisfied that all others 
were. 


Besides his own unfriendly course towards his 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 65 


wife, two of his four sons-in-law had turned 
against her. One (Crosby) had testified and 
another (Parker) had allowed his name to be 
used, as an adverse witness. 

In view of all this, Corey made up his mind, 
determined on his course, and stood to that de- 
termination. He resolved to expiate his own 
folly by a fate that would satisfy the demands of 
the sternest criticism upon his conduct, proclaim 
his abhorrence of the prosecutions, and attest the 
strength of his feelings towards those of his chil- 
dren who had been false, and those who had 
been true, to his wife.’’ 

He therefore had a will made, or more proper- 
ly a deed, by which he gave all his property to 
his “beloved sons-in-law William Cleeves of Bev- 
erly and John Moulton of Salem; it was a 
strong, clear document, duly signed and witnessed. 

His whole property being thus securely con- 
veyed to his faithful sons-in-law, and placed 
beyond the reach of his own weakness or change 


_ of purpose, Corey resolved on a course that would 


66 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


surely try to the utmost the power of human endur- 
ance. He knew, that if brought to trial his death 
was certain. He did not know but that conviction 
and execution, through the attainder connected 
with it, might invalidate all attempts of his to 
convey his property. But it was certain, that if 
he should not be brought to trial and conviction, 
his deed would stand, and nothing could break 
it or defeat its effect. He accordingly made up 
his mind not to be tried. When called into 
Court to answer to the indictment found by the 
Grand Jury, he did not plead ‘‘Guilty” or “Not 
Guilty,” but stood mute. How often he was 
called forth, we are, not informed ; but nothing 
could shake him. No power on earth could un- 
seal his lips. 

He knew that the gates of justice were closed, 
and that truth had fled from the scene. He 
would have no part nor lot in the matter ; refused 
to recognize the court, made no response to its 
questions, and was dumb in its presence. He 


stands alone in the resolute defiance of his atti- 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 67 


tude. He knew the penalty of suffering and 
agony he would have to pay; but he freely and 
fearlessly encountered it. All that was needed 
to carry his point was an unconquerable firmness, 
and he had it. He rendered it impossible to 
bring him to trial; and thereby, in spite of the 
power and wrath of the whole country and its 
authorities, retained his right to dispose of his 
property, and bore his testimony against the folly 
and wickedness of the hour, in tones that reached 
the whole world, and will resound through all 
ages.” 

Such an unusual move on the part of a prisoner 
must have filled the Court with consternation. 
To deprive the magistrates and clergy of their 
rightful occupation, to furnish no horrors for the 
excited spectators, and to leave the afflicted 
children unafflicted, was more exasperating than 
anything Giles Corey had done in the course of 
his long and contentious life. 

Yet there he stood, with feeble limbs and 


broken spirit, a Colossus of strength. 


68 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


We know how the Court dealt with its contu- 
macious prisoner, although none of the partic- 
ulars have been handed down. 

The old English law applying to such cases 
was as follows: ‘The prisoner was called three ” 
times to plead, and if he remained obstinate was 
sent to a low dark prison cell. He was there to 
be laid on the bare floor nearly naked, and for 
a covering, a heavy iron weight placed upon his 
body, not enough to crush his life out, but to 
press out his courage. A little of the worst 
bread one day, and a fewsips of miserable water 
the next, was to be the alternate fare of the poor 
wretch until he eitiier died, or succumbed to the 
torture and made reply. But no reply came 
from Giles Corey. At his sufferings, before the 
weight and weakness released his brave spirit, we 
can only guess with a sickening wonder. 

Can we think of any character in fiction to 
equal this old man in grandeur?. We have shed 
tears for King Lear, whose hoary locks are driven 


by the storm, but for this aged hero, the product 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 
a ‘our own soil, the heart stands still with silent 
awe, 

: Tradition has it that his death took place in 
2 - the open field near the jail, somewhere between. 
_ Howard-street burial ground and Brown street. 
Like Rebecca Nurse, Giles Corey was excom- 
municated from the Church, Mr. Noyes hasten- 


ie : 
_* Ing to pronounce doom upon the prisoner when 


. in it was found he would not yield to torture. 





CHAPTER X. 
REBECCA NURSE. 


p! was now time to produce the fourth woman 
whom Tituba had seen afflict the children. 

The amazement felt by the neighbors of Re- 
becca Nurse at finding her numbered among 
the accused, survives as a marvel for us to-day. 

Her years were threescore and ten, and they 
had been passed in exemplary living: in her 
home, the honored mother of a large family 
reared in careful piety, and in the community 
.occupying a position of dignity as befitting a ven- 
erable matron. Moreover her health was failing 
and the infirmities of age settling upon her. 

The only clew to the mystery seems to be in 
the prosperous condition of the Nurse family and 
because of the home they were then occupying. 
This farm known then as the Townsend-Bishop 


(70) 





SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. ii 


farm adjoined the farms of several other promi- 
nent people. Boundary lines were then sources 
of much dispute, the grants of land never having 
been properly surveyed in the first place. The 
three hundred acres belonging to the Townsend- 
Bishop farm, would be found to overlap the three 
hundred acres of other grants, and these other 
farms, measuring from their starting points; would 
be found to intersect the Townsend-Bishop land. 
Dissensions arose naturally from these unsettled 
boundaries, and the most pugnacious man on 
the edge of his domain would be for the time 
victorious. 

These troubles had been of long standing, and 
without going more deeply into the controversy, 
the significant fact must be noted, that the family 
occupying the central position in the debatable 
land, was one of those for whom misfortune was 
meted out. 

Rebecca Nurse, the wife of Francis Nurse, 
and her sister Mary Easty suffered death ; while 
another sister, Sarah Cloyse, was accused and 
committed for trial. 


! 


72 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


Her gentle and lovely disposition is illustrated 
by the following paper : 


“We whose names are underwritten, being desired to 
go to Goodman Nurse his house, to. speak with his wife, 
and to tell her that several of the afflicted persons men- 
tioned her; and accordingly we went, and we found her 
in a weak and low condition in body as she told us, and 
had been sick almost a week. And we asked how it was 
otherwise with her; and she said she blessed God for it, 
she had more of his presence in this sickness than some- 
time she have had, but not so much as she desired; but 
she would with the apostle, press forward to the mark; 
and many other places of Scripture to the like purpose. 
And then, of her own accord, she began to speak of the 
affliction that was amongst them, and in particular of Mr. 
Parris his family, and how she was grieved for them, 
though she had not been to see them, by reason of fits 
that she formerly used to have; for people said it was 
awful to behold; but she pitied them with all her heart, 
and went to God for them. But she said she heard that 
there was persons spoke of that were as innocent as she 
was, she believed; and, after much to this purpose, we 
told her we heard that she was spoken of also. ‘Well,’ 
she said, ‘if it be so, the will of the Lord be done;’ she 
sat still awhile, being as it were amazed; and then she 


said, ‘Well, as to this thing, I am as innocent as_ the 













































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































————— = = —— - 
= SSS —— =| 
SaaS —SSSsSasasassSssSsSsSsSssSs 
ess SSSSSSS]SESSSSSEE SaaS} 
S55 SSS = ——— SS 
= SS SO 
SSS SS SSS Se ———eE——eE 
See SS — 

= SS = 








es = 
—SS—S— S_—_——SSSS ——-= —= 
—— aes, —— —— 





























SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. hy 


child unborn; but surely,’ she said, ‘What sin hath God 
found out in me unrepented of, that he should lay such 
an affliction upon me in my old age?’ And, according 
to our best observation we could not discern that she 
knew what we came for before we told her. 
ISRAEL PORTER, 
ELIZABETH PORTER. 
“To the substance of what is above, we, if called thereto 


are ready to testify on oath. 
DANIEL ANDREW, 


PETER CLOYSE.”’ 


To prepare a friend for bad news is always a 
painful errand ; to warn a venerable saint thatshe 
must expect martyrdom, must have indeed been 
a hard task. Her unconsciousness of coming 
evil, the beautiful and unrepining way in which 
she received the dreadful tidings, is one of the 
most touching scenes in the long tragedy. 

She bore the examination with steadfast dig- 
nity and heavenly patience. ‘The questions put 
to her were but a repetition of those in previous 
cases, while the proceedings were interrupted as 
usual by fits and ravings. One woman, so 


wrought upon by the excitement as to be tem- 
4 


74 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


porarily insane, threw her muff at the prisoner, 
and missing the mark, took off her shoe, and with 
this hit the poor old lady in the head. 

Firmly and repeatedly she protested her inno- 
cence against the extravagant charges brought 
against her. 

Finally Hathorne put this question : 

“To you think these suffer against their wills ?” 

She answered, “I do not think these suffer 
against their wills.” 

“To this point she was not afraid or unwilling to 
‘ go, in giving an opinion of the conduct of the 
accusing girls. Iufirm, half deaf, cross-questioned, 
circumvented, surrounded with folly, uproar and 
outrage, as she was; they could not intimidate her 
to say less, or entrap ner to say more.” 

Then another line of incriminating questions 
was started by the magistrate: “Why did you 
never visit the afflicted persons >—Because I was 
afraid I should have fits too.” 

On every motion of her body, “‘fits followed . 
upon the complainants, abundantly and very fre- 
quently.” 


be 4?" ee 


\ 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 75 


Finding neither justice nor mercy could be 
seen, she exclaimed, “I have got nobody to look 
to but God.” 

At the time of her trial, a paper signed by 
thirty-nine persons of the highest respectability, 
testifying as to the blameless character of Re- 


becca Nurse was offered in testimony.! The jury, 


+ We whose names are hereunto subscribed, being desired 
by Goodman Nurse to declare what we know concerning his 
wife’s conversation for time past, we can testify to all whom 
it may concern that we have known her for many years; and 
according to our observation, her life and conversation were 
according to her profession, and we never had any grounds or 
cause to suspect her of any such thing as she isnow accused 
of. 

Israel Porter, Elizabeth Porter, Edward Bishop, Sr., Han- 
nah Bishop, Joshua Rea, Sarah Rea, Sarah Leach, John 
Putnam, Rebecca Putnam, Joseph Iutchinson, Sr., Lydia 
Hutchinson, Wiliam Osburn, Hannah Osburn, Joseph Hol- 
ton, Sr., Sarah Holton, Benjamin Putnam, Sarah Putnam, 
Job Swinnerton, Esther Swinnerton, Joseph Herrick, Sr., 
Samuel Abbey, Hepzibah Rea, Daniel Andrew, Sarah An- 
drew, Daniel Rea, Sarah Putnam, Jonathan Putnam, Lydia 
Putnam,Walter Phillips, Sr., Nathaniel Felton, Sr., Margaret 
Phillips, Tabitha Phillips, Joseph Houtton, Jr., Samuel Endi- 
cott, Elizabeth Buxton, Samuel Aborn, Sr., Isaac Cook, 
Elizabeth Cook, Joseph Putnam. 


76 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


impressed by her conduct and conversation, in 
spite of the prevailing excitement against any 
accused person, brought in a verdict of ‘Not 
Guilty.” 

This did not please the clamorous mob, any 
more than the judgment of Pilate satisfied those 
who wished to crucify Christ. 

The demented people, trampling reason under 
foot in their fury, so intimidated the judges that 
the favorable verdict was withdrawn, and Rebecca 
Nurse condemned to die by the grossest perver- 
sion of justice in the annals of our country. 

Nor was a violent death the only sentence or- 
dered against this innocent woman. Not content 
with destroying her body, her persecutors took 
it upon themselves to settle her eternal doom, and 
she was therefore excommunicated from the 
church. 

Hutchinson thus comments on the episode. 
“Mr. Noyes, the minister of Salem, a zealous pros- 
ecutor, excommunicated the poor old woman, and 


delivered her to Satan, to whom he supposed she 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 77 


had given herself formally many years before ; but 
her life and conversation had been such, that the 
remembrance thereof, in a short time after, wiped 
off all the reproach occasioned by the civil or 
ecclesiastical sentence against her.” 

Twenty years after, the notice of the excom- 
munication of Rebecca Nurse was erased from 
the church record at the request of her children. . 

The bodies of executed witches were not al- 
lowed to receive Christian burial, and were hud- 
dled into holes among the rocks of Gallows Hill. 

But family tradition among her descendants, 
has always maintained that the body of Rebecca 
Nurse was recovered by her devoted husband and 
sons, and tenderly buried near her old home. 

From this historic house, kept in perfect re- 
pair by the family now in possession, can be seen 
a pine grove where it is supposed she sleeps ; while, 
watching the spot, a granite monument now stands, 


testifying in her behalf forever. 


CHAPTER XI. 


A VERY YOUNG WITCH—INTREPID JOSEPH PUTNAM— 


JOHN AND ELIZABETH PROCTER. 


OTHING. could more perfectly show the 
1) disorder of men’s minds at this time, than 
the appearance of the next person brought be- 
fore the Court on the charge of witchcraft. Be- 
hold a wee girl of between four and five years 
old, said to be “‘hale and well as other children,” 
little Dorcas Good, the child of Sarah Good, al- 
ready committed to prison. As she sits before 
this company of witch-finders, we wonder no one 
of the ministers were reminded of the little child 
whom Christ set in the midst of his disciples, as 
signifying who were ready for the kingdom of 
heaven. They did not find this baby guilty, 
however, though she was imprisoned for months. 

(78) 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 79 


ne 


Animals were also thought to be possessed of 
satan. ‘There is record of the execution of a dog 
for witchcraft. 

Among other fancies regarding a witch, it was 
believed that he or she could not shed tears. It 
is a fact, that age dries up these natural fountains 
of grief; but facts counted for nothing in that 
tribunal, neither would a horror that turns an in- 
nocent person to stony despair be recognized 
as anything but proof of guilt, even though its 
agony was deeper than floods of weeping. 

‘The expression an “evil eye” dates from this 
period. It was thought that when a witch looked 
upon her victim, an invisible fluid or evil spell 
passed from her to the brain of the accuser caus- 
ing the dreadful fits and convulsions which there- 
upon took place. If the witch were ordered to 
touch the distressed person, this fluid or current 
would pass back again whence it came, and 
the afflicted were instantly relieved. 

This, all could see for themselves. 


There was a book pertaining to the devil which 


80 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


figures largely in the testimony. Sometimes he 
brings it himself to be signed by the servants he 
would secure, but quite as often it is presented by 
his sub-agents who importune with dire threats 
if the contract be not accepted. This diabolical 
volume is generally described as black, though on 
one occasion, at least, a more intense sensation 
being desired, it was called “red as blood.” 

As we have previously observed, the stories of 
witnesses grew more awful as the trials increased ; 
fantastic and monstrous scenes were detailed to 
the Court where the devil and his witches held 
converse together sealing the sacrament of their 
hellish bond by drinking the blood of their vic- 
tims. 

Let us refresh our minds for a moment by look- 
ing at one superb picture in this gallery; one 
though hanging side by side with those of tragic 
fate, has no sorrowful experience in its history. 

Joseph Putnam was one of the three citizens 
of Salem village, who protested from the first 


against the witchcraft proceedings although his 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. SI 


two brothers, Thomas and Deacon John Putnam, 
were actively concerned in the affair. Yet Jo- 
seph knew better, and instead of keeping his 
superior knowledge to himself lost no occasion 
of proclaiming the whole thing a fraud and a de- 
lusion. He absented himself from meeting, wnich 
in those days was a much more significant fact 
for the head of a family to do than it is now, and 
when it was time for his young child to be bap- 
tized carried the infant to Salem for the purpose. 

Imagine this youth of twenty-two defying pub- 
lic opinion, when opinion dictated life and death, 
differing from his brothers and uncles regardless 
of the cost. Well, too, he realized the danger he 
was in, for while he scorned fear, he displayed 
that better part of valor, lest the worst come. He 
kept himself and family armed, and it is said one 
of his horses stood saddled day and night in case 
apprehension should be at hand and flight nec- 
essary. 


He was never arrested. 


82 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


Whether family affection protected him, or 
whether the prosecutors were really afraid to ap- 
prehend such a doughty rebel, one is not sure. 
Certainly it was much easier to bring feeble old 
women to court, than a Joseph Putnam, for there 
must have been fire in his eye as well as in his 
spirit. 

He was the father of a large family of children 
who honored the name ; one of the youngest was 
Israel, afterwards our general of the Revolution. 

The third person of enlightened mind as to 
the delusion, was John Procter. His strong char- 
acteristic is found in men at different periods, 
all the world over. He is theman who speaks his 
mind to the disadvantage of self-interest, and al- 
ways with vehemence. We find him to-day in poli- 
tics, on school boards, in the church, but rarely as- 
serting himself insuch a worthy cause as did John 
Procter. Sucha man as this, impulsive and fear- 
less, is generally unpopular, and public dislike in 


this case became an executioner. Elizabeth 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 83 


Procter, his wife, was first accused, for the Proc- 
ters had also absented themselves from meeting 
since the disturbances began, while that Mary 
Warren one of the accusing girls had been a ser- 
vant in the family, must be mentioned as an im- 
portant link in the chain of circumstances which 
dragged them down. : 

Very touching is the scene where Elizabeth 
Procter is examined. Her husband, bold and 
manly, stands by his wife at this trying time, and 
it was, doubtless his indignant and earnest pro- 
testations in her behalf that turned the malice of 
the accusers upon himself, for presently they 
“cried out”? upon Goodman Procter. 

Her character and bearing may be clearly 
seen from one sentence directed towards her 
furious tormenters. 

In her utter amazement at the accusations and 
demeanor of the young girls, there is to her but 
one solution—they are crazed—and her tender 
womanly heart moved with pity for their condi- 


tion has no room in it for resentment ; she says 


84 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


sweetly to Abigail Williams — “Dear child it is 
not so. There is another judgement dear child.”’ 
She might as well have addressed the wind 
with gentle words. 
John Procter made an effort to gain justice by 


an appeal to Boston in the following letter— 


** SALEM PRISON, July 23, 1692. 


Mr. Mather, Mr. Allen, Mr. Moody, Mv. Willard and 
Mr. Bailey. 


Reverend Gentlemen. ‘The innocency of.our case, 
with the enmity of our accusers and our judges and jury, 
whom nothing but our innocent blood will serve, having 
condemned us already before our trials, being so much 
incensed and enraged against us by the Devil, make us 
bold to beg and implore your favorable assistance of this 
our humble petition to His Excellency, that if it be pos- 
sible, our innocent blood may be spared, which undoubt- 
edly otherwise will be shed, if the Lord doth not merci- 
fully step in; the magistrates, ministers, juries, and all 
the people in general, being so much enraged and in- 
censed against us by the delusion of the Devil, which we 
can term no other, by reason we know, in our own con- 


sciences we are innocent persons. 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 85 


Here are five persons who have lately confessed them- 
selves to be witches, and do accuse some of us of being 
along with them at a sacrament, since we were commit- 
ted into close prison, which we know to be lies. Two of 
the five are (Carrier’s sons) young men, who would not 
confess anything till they tied them neck and heels, till 
the blood was ready to come out of their noses; and it 
is credibly believed and reported this was the occasion of 
making them confess what they never did, by reason they 
said one had been a witch a month, and another five 
weeks, and that their mother made them so, who has 
been confined here this nine weeks. My son William 
Procter, when he was examined, because he would not 
confess that he was guilty when he was innocent, they 
tied him neck and heels till the blood gushed out at his 
nose, and would have kept him so twenty-four hours, if 
one, more merciful than the rest, had not taken pity on 
him, and caused him to be unbound. These actions are 
very like the Popish cruelties. They have already undone 
us in our estates, and that will not serve their turns with- 
out our innocent blood. If it cannot be granted that we 
can have our trials in Boston, we humbly beg that you 

-would endeavor to have these magistrates changed, and 
others in their room; begging also and beseeching you, 


that you would be pleased to be here, if not all, some of 


86 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


you, at our trials, hoping thereby you may be the means 
of saving the shedding of our innocent blood. Desiring 
your prayers to the Lord, in our behalf, we rest, your 


poor afflicted servants, 


JOHN PROCTER (and others).” 


Even after a three months’ imprisonment, John 
Procter’s spirit is not crushed, though there is a 
ring of imploring despair in the letter, as if the 
writer could already see the shadow of the gal- 
lows. ‘Thirteen days after the date of his letter, 
his trial took place in Salem, followed by execu- 
tion August 19. 

He was a native of Ipswich, and two petitions 
from friends and neighbors of the family were 
offered to the Court, signed by many and valued 
names, testifying to the worth and Christian char- 
acters of “John Procter and his Wife, now in 
Trouble and under Suspicion of Witchcraft.” 

In addition to this testimony as to the good 
‘repute of the prisoners, there was evidence 
against the witnesses brought to light at the trial. 


One of the girls took back previous testimony, 


7 a 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 87 


saying that she must have been “out of her head”’ 
at the time she gave it; while another declared 
that what she had said before was “for sport.” 

But nothing could stem the fury of the current 
at this point. 

Two weeks after John Procter was put to 
death, a baby was born to Elizabeth Procter in 
prison, adding one more to a large family of 
fatherless. children. But it was this youngest 
child that saved the mother’s life. 


CHAPTER =X1f. 
BRIDGET BISHOP. 


N some particulars, Bridget Bishop is one of 
the most notable characters immortalized by 

the Salem Witchcraft Delusion. Although by 
no means the first to be accused, she was the 
first person tried, and the first of the nineteen 
who were executed. The Court met the first 
week in June, and June roth she came to her 
death. The warrant for her execution for witch- 
craft is the only document of its kind known to 
be in existence. 

As an individual, she differed greatly from the 
women we have previously studied. While they 
have most of them been eminent for piety and 
domestic habits, she appears to have been a 
positive and original character, working out her 

(88) 





SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 89 


own eccentricities whether her neighbors were 
scandalized or not. 

In the first place, although living with her third 
husband, she had but one child, the daughter of 
her second husband, Thomas Oliver. Life was 
so simple then, that with but one child, domestic 
matters could hardly have absorbed the entire 
attention of such an active woman. She kept a 
house of refreshment, near the line between 
Salem and Beverly, and not only refreshed the 
bodies of her guests, but provided a shovel-board 
for their entertainment. Amusements were few 
among these austere ancestors, and the shovel- 
board was almost the. only game countenanced 
at all, and that looked upon with disfavor by 
many. 

But however her neighbors looked upon it, 
Bridget Bishop did not regard pleasure and sin 
as synonymous terms any more than does the 
righteous matron of to-day. No proof of any 
failing in morality can be found against her, but 
her shovel-board, her fondness for dress, her 


powerful tongue and brisk manner of defending 


go SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


herself when assailed,—all made her the subject 
of much comment among neighbors whose fail- 
ings were different. 

When she attired her person in “a black cap 
and a black hat, and a red paragon bodice, bor- 
dered and looped with different colors,’ she 
gave great offence to women who were clad in 
sober hues and the “ornament of a meek and 
quiet spirit.’ They felt there must “have ,been 
something wrong about a woman so different 
from those about her, particularly when she was 
also of such a belligerent disposition. Some five 
years before the delusion began, there had been 
an accusation made against her as to her being a 
witch; but Mr. Hale, her minister, not being 
then carried away from his moorings to reason, 
saw in the matter only the ravings of a half crazy 
woman and dismissed the charge, though he 
afterwards brought it to bear upon her in the 
trial. : 

We like to fancy her stepping briskly about 
and serving cider to travellers who gave her the 


latest news in exchange, and have an idea she 





SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. gi 


was a better man than Edward Bishop, her hus- 
band, of whom we hear but little. She did not ob- 
ject to gossip about her manners and dress ; she 
was doubtless of stout person and philosophic 
mind, and knew that if scandal was not busy 
with her affairs it would be with the peculiari- 
ties of some other woman less able to bear it 
than she was ; perhaps she may have even liked 
to make these staid, solemn people open their eyes 
and exercise their tongues. 

When it came to asserting she was a witch, 
however, that was a very different thing and she 
resented it strongly and literally. On-one oc- 
casion a man and boy presented themselves at 
her door to accuse her of bewitching a child. 
Discovering their errand, the supposed witch re- 
ceived them in very unwitchlike fashion.  In- 
stead of brewing anything for their punishment 
in a kettle, or even muttering incantation at 
them, she seized a spade that was at hand, and 
chased them with the vigor of a virago from the 


porch. Neither did she vainly beat the air, as 


Q2 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


the plight of the discomfited twain testified on 
their return home. 

Enemies she had in abundance, who rose up 
and aired their idle spite when opportunity came. 

A dyer named Shattuck, who lived in the 
house still standing on Essex street opposite the 
western gate of the North Church, gave the most 
damaging evidence. 

Bridget Bishop brought her ribbons and laces 
to him for dyeing, and he thought them too fan- 
tastic to be worn for any honest purpose, and 
there was much chattering in consequence among 
his neighbors as she came up the street. Worse 
than the gayness of the finery, was the evil which 
Shattuck declared his customer had worked upon 
his little boy. Up to a certain time he had been 
a healthy child; then Bridget Bishop had cast: 
her eye upon him and he began to be sickly and 
to have fits; of how dangerous a nature his ail- 
ments were, was illustrated by his being unable 
to get off a board or door step when called. 


For what he was called, does not appear. 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 93 


This locality of the dyer’s seems to have been a 
central point of attack upon Bridget Bishop and 
there was much whispering over the fence as a 
matter of course. Next to Shattuck on the east, 
on the very spot which the kitchen of the pres- 
ent writer's house now occupies, was a little old 
house where lived one John Cook. Cook’s son 
told marvellous tales also ; he saw Goody Bishop 
in the window of his room grinning at him, and 
then disappear from view in a crevice. Further- 
more, apples flew unaccountably from his hand. 

Adjoining the Cooks, fronting on Summer 
street, lived the Blys, who added their contribu- 
tion to the malicious testimony, having once had 
a difficulty with the Bishops about the payment 
ofa hog. Other stories quite as desperate were 
offered by people who saw and knew the prisoner. 
Once the harness of a man’s horse fell to pieces ' 
as Bridget Bishop came in sight ; and when she 
was driving once herself, the wheel sunk deep 
into the mud; and afterwards when they looked 


for the hole, it could not be found. 


94 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE... 


John and William Bly, father and son, who had 
been employed to remove the cellar wall of the 
house occupied by the Bishops, testified that they 
found ‘“‘puppets” made up of rags and hogs’ bris- 
tles with headless pins in them with the pins out- 
ward. 

Of such strands was twisted the rope that hung 
Bridget Bishop. ' 

She seems to have behaved with calmness dur- 


ing her examination and trial, volunteering no 


disrespect to the court, nor vituperation at the 


accusers. But it seems to be in keeping with 
her character that wnen asked if she was not 
troubled to see the afflicted persons tormented, 
she replied “No,” indicating further that she 
could not tell what to think of them, and did not 
concern herself about them at all. 

This vigorous, practical person, indifferent to 
public opinion, does not seem to have been 
planned by nature for a martyr; but circum- 
stances made her so, and her crown may be just 


as bright as those worn by her gentler sisters. 


Be. 


a a 


CHAPTER XIII. 
MARY EASTY THE SELF-FORGETFUL. 


SAINTLY person was Mary Easty, sister 
R of Rebecca Nurse. She was twelve years 
younger than the latter, and up to the time of her 
arrest, with a family of seven children, was nota- 
ble for her qualities as wife and mother ; devoted 
in her faithfulness, faithful in her devotion. 

After her death sentence, she is distinguished 
for an unconsciousness of self that is sublime. 
Although she was called to die by neither guilt, 
nor disease, bound to earth by many of the ten- 
derest bonds, her serenity in facing the inevitable, 
the loftiness of her spirit above personal bitter- 
ness is more divine than human. 

Her case differs also from others in one pitiful 
incident. She was committed to prison after 

(95) 


96 SALEM WITCHCRAFL IN OUTLINE. 


examination in April; by some means she was 
set free the eighteenth of May, and allowed to 
return home to her family. Judging the family 
by the mother, that must have been a blissful 
reunion. Butashortone. Her freedom was not 
due to the afflicted children it appears ; for, on 
the loosing of Mary Easty’s chains, such distress- 
ing fits and convulsions came upon Mercy Lewis, 


that all the neighbors came to gaze upon her 


in dismay and horror. Her young companions, 


called upon to see who it was that thus tortured 
Mercy, all declared that it was Goodwife Easty, 
and so effective was Mercy’s acting, that the re- 
arrest was made and Mrs. Easty returned to pris- 
on, where she remained until September brought 
her execution. 

On her way to the Gallows, she met her family 
and friends, and of this meeting and parting, Ca- 
lef says that her words of farewell were said to 
have been “as serious, religious, distinct and af- 
fectionate as could well be expressed, drawing 


tears from the eyes of almost all present.” 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 97 


She made one effort to secure justice, sending 
to the court one of the most noble and affecting 


letters ever written. 


The Humble Petition of Mary Easty unto his Excel- 
lency Sir William Phips, and to the Honored Fudge and 
Bench now sitting in Fudicature in Salem, and the Rev- 
erend Ministers, humbly sheweth, that, whereas your poor 
and humble petitioner, being condemned to die, do 
humbly beg of you to take it in your judicious and pious 
consideration, that your poor and humble petitioner, know- 
ing my own innocency, blessed be the Lord for it! and 
seeing piainly the wiles and subtilty of my accusers by 
myself, cannot but judge charitably of others that are go- 
ing the same way of myself if the Lord steps not might- 
ily in. I was confined a whole month upon the same 
account, that I am condemned now for, and then cleared 
by the afflicted persons, as some of Your Honors know. 

And in two day’s time I was cried out upon them, and 
have been confined, and now am condemned to die. The 
Lord above knows my innocency then, and likewise does. 
now, as at the great day will be known to men and angels. 
I petition to Your Honors not for my own life, for I know 
I must die, and my appointed time is set; but the Lord 


he knows it is that, if it be possible, no more innocent 


~ 


a 


98 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


blood may be shed, which undoubtedly cannot be avoided 
in the way and course you goin. I question not but Your 
Honors do to the utmost of your powers in the discovery 
and detecting of witchcraft and witches, and would not 
be guilty of innocent blood for the world. 

But, by my own innocency, I know you are in the 
wrong way. The Lord in his infinite mercy direct youin 
this great work, if it be his blessed will that no more in- 
nocent blood be shed! I would humbly beg of you that 
Your Honors would be pleased to examine these afflicted 
persons strictly, and keep them apart some time, and 
likewise to try some of these confessing witches; I being 
confident there is several of them that has belied them- 
selves and others, as will appear, if not in this world, I 
am sure in the world to come, whither I am now agoing. 
I question not but you will see an alteration of these 
things. They say myself and others having made a league 
with the Devil, we cannot confess. JI know, and the Lord 
knows, as will appear, they belie me, and so I question 
not but they do others. The Lord above, who is the 
searcher of all hearts, knows, as I shall answer it at the 
tribunal seat, that I knownot the least thing of witchcraft; 
therefore I cannot, I dare not, belie my own soul. I beg 
Your Honors not to deny this my humble petition from a 
poor, dying, innocent person. And I question not but the 


Lord will give a blessing to your endeavors.” 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 99 


That a condemned person should in such per- 
ilous condition offer no plea for self, but for oth- 
ers lest they suffer, fills one with awed amaze- 
ment. 

Her suggestion to the Court that the accusers 
be “kept apart” for a time, displays more sagac- 
ity than we see in the judges and jury combined. 
And yet, though by her clearer understanding she 
sees plainly these men are in the wrong, and that 
by their blundering she is to lose her life, she 
shows not the slighest resentment towards any- 
one ; the only distress is for others, and her cry for 
mercy is for those who direct her execution. 

The lofty tone of this message to the Court re- 
calls the perfect spirit of the Prisoner at Calvary, 
who entreats “Father, forgive them, they know 
not what they do.” 


CHAPTER XIV. 
THE JACOBS FAMILY. 


ETWEEN Salem and. Danversport, there 
stands back from the road on a rising in the 
field, an old gray house still known as the “Ja- 
cobs’ house, where two hundred years ago, as 
cruel a rending of heart and family took place 
as any hearth-stone in Salem Village knew. 
There lived George Jacobs, his only son 
George, jr., with his wife, their daughter Marga- 
ret, aged fifteen, and several younger children. 
The old man was of striking figure, unusually tall, 
and walking with two canes; his hair was white 
and worn in flowing locks. 
Much depends on the mother of the house, 
particularly where the home is isolated, as was 


this. Rebecca Jacobs must have been an object: 


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SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. IOI 


of tender solicitude in her household, for she had 
been for years partially deranged, and therefore 
the young shoulders of Margaret, must have early 
received burdens too heavy for her years and 
frame. 

May roth, George Jacobs and Margaret were 
arrested, and four days later warrants were is- 
sued against George Jacobs, jr., and his half de- 

mented wife. 

He made his escape from the country while she, 
though not brought to trial until January, 1693, 
was kept chained in prison ; quite enough to have 
made a maniac of this broken-minded woman. 
Her mother, a Rebecca Fox of Cambridge, wrote 
a most touching petition in her behalf to the Gov- 
ernor, but it was in vain. 

The little gray house is left stripped and deso- 
late ; the grandfather and granddaughter taken,, 
the father having to seek refuge like a hunted 
criminalin a foreign land, while the mother, who 
had probably instinct enough left in her troubled 
brain to care for her children, was torn from her 


little ones and one of them an infant. 


102 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


But the sheriff has naught to do with helpless 
childhood ; he takes his forlorn prisoner into the 
spring air off across the fields, leaving in the open 
door the crying children whose frightened voices 
waken the unweaned baby in its cradle within. 
Though aged, George Jacobs was vigorous in 

mind, and courageously met the accusations and 
the accusers with—‘“‘Well, let us hear who are 
they and what are they.” 

He laughed at Abigail Williams’ performances, 
~ and said—“Because I am falsely accused, your 
worships all of you, do you think this is true?” 

Later in the examination, he exclaimed “You 
tax me for a wizard ; you may as well tax me for 
a buzzard. I have done no harm.” 

Sarah Churchill who had been a servant in the 
family testified “Last night I was afflicted at Dea- 
con Ingersoll’s, and Mary Walcot said it was a 
‘man with two staves; it was my master.” He 
was challenged to say the Lord’s Prayer and, ac- 
cording to Mr. Parris, “He missed in several parts 
of it, and could not repeat it right after many 


trials.” The magistrates then suggestively asked 


Oe 2 er ee ee eee ee ye ee 





° : cil 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 103 


“Were you not frighted Sarah Churchill, when the 
representation of your master came to you?” 
—*Ves.”’ 

Jacobs exclaimed, “Well, burn me or hang me, 

J will stand in the truth of Christ, I know noth- 
me Or te? 

A disturbed conscience was such an almost 
unprecedented thing among the afflicted girls, 
that the following, found among the loose papers 
on file in the clerk’s office, should be inserted. 

The Deposition of Sarah Ingersoll, aged about 

Saith, that, seeing Sarah Churchill, 





thirty years. 
after her examination, she came to me crying 
and wringing her hands, seemingly to be much 
troubled in spirit. I asked her what sne ailed. 
She answered, she had undone herself and others 
in saying she had set her hand to the Devil’s 
book, whereas, she said, she never did. I told 
her I believed she had set her hand to the book. 
She answered, crying, and said, “‘No, no, no; I 


never, Ineverdid! I asked her then what made her 


104 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


say she did. She answered because they threatened 
her, and told her they would put her into the 
dungeon, and put her along with Mr. Burroughs ; 
and thus several times she followed me up and 
down, telling me that she had undone herself, in 
belying herself and others. I asked her why she 
did not deny she wrote it. She told me, because 
she had stood out so long in it, that now, she 
durst not. She said also, that, if she told Mr. 
Noyes but once she had set her hand to the book, 
he would believe her; but if she told the truth, 
and said she had not set her hand to the book a 
hundred times, he would not believe her. 


“SARAH INGERSOLL.’ 


George Jacobs was committed to prison ; his 
trial, such as it was, took place early in August, 
and his execution August 19. 

‘“ George Jacobs, sr., is the only one, among 
the victims of the witchcraft prosecutions, the 
precise spot of whose burial is absolutely ascer- 


tained. © 


~~ ae 


ioe 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 105 


The tradition has descended through the fam- 
ily, that the body, after having been obtained at 
the place of execution, was strapped by a young 
grandson on the back of a horse, brought home 
to the farm, and buried beneath the shade of his 
own trees. ‘T’wo sunken and weather-worn stones 
marked the spot. ‘There the remains rested un- 
til 1864, when they were exhumed. They were 
enclosed again and reverently re-deposited in the 
same place. 

The skull was ina state of considerable pres- 
ervation. An examination of the jawbones 
showed that he was a very old man at the time 
of his death, and had previously lost all his teeth. 
The length of some parts of the skeleton showed 
that he was a very tallman. These circumstances 
corresponded with the evidence, which was that 
he was tall of stature ; so infirm as to walk with 
two staffs. It is an observable fact, that he rests 
in his own ground, still. He had lived for a great 


length of time on that spot, and it remains in 


106 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


his family and in his name to this day, having 
come down by direct descent.” 

Margaret Jacobs, while her grandfather was 
under trial and condemnation, had gone through 
a terrible experience. 

Worked upon by influences without and by 
weariness and weakness within, in some distressed 
state of mind she was brought to make confes- 
tion of witchcraft and in so doing implicated her 
grandfather. Before turning from Margaret in 
horror, let us remember her youth and the trials 
she had been through. For years she had had 
her mother’s sad condition before her eyes, while 
the sudden blasting of their home and scatter- 
ing of the family, to say nothing of the public 
uproar, and her individual imprisonment and 
chains, would have disturbed a woman’s faith and 
courage ; hers faltered for a time but as will be 
seen, was strengthened again, and would haye 
remained strong even unto death. 


Neither does it seem fair to state that it was 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 107 


because of Margaret’s testimony that her grand- 
father lost his life ; for if it had not been her tes- 
timony, anything else would have answered for 
a pretext of guilt, for we have seen that prejudice, 
not justice, ruled the Court ; that malice, and not 
law, summed up the evidence. 

The reaction from Margaret’s moment of weak- 
ness, produced the most sorrowful repentance 
under which she wrote a letter to the Court tak- 
ing back her confession. This she read aloud 


before the assembled people.. 


The Humble Declaration of Margaret Facobs unto the 
flonored Court now sitting at Salen sheweth, that where- 
as your poorand humble declarant, being closely confined 
here in Salem jail for the crime of witchcraft, — which 
crime, thanks be to the Lord! I am altogether ignorant 
of, as will appear at the great day of judgement,—may it 
please the honored Court, I was cried out upon by some 
of the possessed persons as afflicting them: whereupon 
I was brought to my examination; which persons at the 
sight of me fell down, which did very much startle and 
affight me. The Lord above knows I knew nothing in 


the least measure how or who afflicted them. 


108 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


They told me, without doubt I did, or else they would 
not fall down at me; they told me, if I would not con- 
fess, I should be put down into the dungeon, and would 
be hanged, but if I would confess, I should have my life; 
the which did so affright me, with my own vile, wicked 
heart, to save my life, made me make the like confession 
I did, which confession, may it please the honored Court, 
is altogether false and untrue. The very first night after 
I had made confession, I was insuch horror of conscience 
that I could not sleep, for fear the Devil should carry me 
away for telling such horrid lies. Iwas, may it please 
the honored Court, sworn to my confession, as I under- 
stand since, but then, at that time was ignorant of it, not 
knowing what an oath did mean. 

The Lord, I hope, in whom I trust, out of the abun- 
dance of his mercy will forgive me my false forswearing 
myself. What I said was altogether false against my 
grandfather and Mr. Burroughs, which I did to save my 
life, and to have my liberty; but the Lord, charging it to 
my conscience, made me in so much horror, that I could 
not contain myself before I had denied my confession, 
which I did, though I saw nothing but death before me; 
choosing rather death with a quiet conscience, than to 
live in such horror, which I could not suffer. Where- 


upon my denying my confession, I was committed to close 


ae ya 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 109 


prison, where I have enjoyed more felicity in spirit, a 
thousand times, than I did before in my enlargement. 

And now, may it please Your Honors, your declarant 
having in part given Your Honors a description of my 
condition, do leave it to Your Honor’s pious and judicious 
discretions to take pity and compassion on my young and 
tender years, to act and to do with me as the Lord above 
and Your Honors shall see good, having no friend but 
the Lord to plead my cause for me; not being guilty, in 
the least measure, of the crime of witchcraft, nor any 
other sin that deserves death from man. 

And your poor and humble declarant shall for ever 
pray, as she is bound in duty, for Your Honor’s happi- 
ness in this life and eternal felicity in the world to come.’ 


So prays Your Honor’s declarant, 


MARGARET JACOBS.” 


How many girls of the same age in 1892, in 
spite of the progress in so many directions, would 
be capable of the spiritual grace and moral 
courage as shown by Margaret Jacobs in this 
paper. 

It is gratifying to know that she did not die at 


that time, being prevented by a temporary illness 


IIO SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


from appearing at the time appointed for her 
trial, and when the Court met next, the power 
of the delusion was over and her life spared for 
future usefulness. 

In 1699 she. married John Foster. It is a 
positive delight to leave one of our principal 
characters at the altar, rather than upon the 
scaffold. 


SHAR UER XV. 


THE TROUBLE IN ANDOVER—PHILIP AND MARY 


ENGLISH—-MARTHA CARRIER. 


®)ANY of the persons executed were resi- 
dents of Andover it may be noted. How 


the trouble came to break forth so far from its 
starting point is as easy of explanation as the 
carrying of contagious disease. 

“The wife of an honest and worthy man in An- 
dover was sick of a fever. After all the usual means 
had failed to check the symptoms of her disease, 
the idea became prevalent that she was suffering 


7 


under an “evil hand.” The husband, pursuant 
of the advice of friends, posted down to Salem 
Village to ascertain from the afflicted girls who 
was bewitching his wife. ‘Two of them returned 
to Andover. 


(111) 


II2 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


Never did a place receive such fatal visitors. 
The Grecian horse did not bring greater con- 
sternation to ancient Ilium. Immediately after 
their arrival, they succeeded in getting more than 
fifty of the inhabitants into prison, several of 
whom were hanged. 

A perfect panic swept like a hurricane over 
the place. The idea seized all minds, as Hutch- 
inson expresses it, that the only “way to prevent 
accusation, was to become an accuser.”—“The 
number of the afflicted increased every day.and 
the number of accused in proportion.” 

In this state of things, such a great accession 
being made to the ranks of the confessing 
witches, the power of the delusion became irre- 
sistibly strengthened. 

Mr. Dudley Bradstreet, the magistrate of the 
place, after having committed about forty per- 
sons to jail, concluded he had done enough and 
declined to arrest any more. The consequence 
was, he and his wife were cried out upon and 


they had to fly for their lives. 


} 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. Il3 


Persons of great wealth and prominence were 
now assailed in Salem, notably Philip and Mrs. 
English, who owned houses, lands, a wharf and 
many sailing vesseis ; probably no family in this 
whole region lived so luxuriously, and this fact 
was doubtless what made them worthy of attack. 

A warrant was first issued against Mary Eng- 
lish, the wife. “Mrs. English was a lady of emi- 
nent character and culture. ‘Traditions to this 
effect have come down with singular uniformity 
through all the old families of the place. She 
was the only child of Richard Hollingsworth, and 
inherited his large property. The Rev. William 
Bentley, D.D., in his “Description of Salem,” 
and whose daily life made him conversant with 
all that relates to the locality of Mrs. English’s 
residence, says that the officers came to appre- 
hend her in the evening, after she had retired to 
rest. He wasadmitted by the servants, and read 
his warrant in her bed chamber. Guards were 
placed around the house. 


To be accused by the afflicted children was 


114 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


then regarded as certain death. “In the morn- 
ing’ says Bentley, “she attended the devotions 
of her family, kissed her children with great com- 
posure, proposed her plan for their education, 
took leave of them, and then told the officers she 
was realy to die.” 

These few lines, depicting a noble woman with 
such telling strokes, answer the purpose of an 
exhaustive biography. 

Mr. English was arrested a few days later. 
Among other things laid to his charge, was the 
testimony of one William Beals, who says that, 
riding through Lynn, “my nose gushed out bleed- 
ing in a most extraordinary manner, so that it 
bloodied a handkerchief of considerable bigness, 
and also ran down upon my clothes and upon 
my horse’s mane.” 

Philip English and wife were confined in the 
Boston prison; some intelligent person aided 
them in escaping from Massachusetts, to which 
perilous region they did not return until the de- 


lusion had spent its force. 


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sb28 7h 
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SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 175 


The case of Martha Carrier was a pitiful one, 
four of her children being taken with her into 
confinement, and their young minds terrified into 
a confession against her, andit was ostensibly on 
the words of her own flesh and blood that she 
was found guilty. 

“It was asked Sarah Carrier by the magistrates, 
“How long hast thou been a witch >—Ever since 
I was six years old. 

‘*How old are you now?—Near eight years 
old ; brother Richard says I shall be eight years 
old in November next. 

‘‘Who made you a witch?—My mother; she 
made me set my hand to a book. 

“How did you set your hand to it >—I touched 
it with my fingers,and the book was red; the 
paper of it was white. 

‘She said she had never seen the black man ; 
the place where she did it was in Andrew Foster’s 
pasture, and Elizabeth Johnson, jr., was there. 
Being asked who was there besides, she answered, 


her Aunt Toothaker and her cousin. Being 


116 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


asked when it was, she said, when she was bap- 
tized. 

“What did they promise to give you ?>—A black 
dog. 

“Did the dog ever come to you?—No. 


‘‘But you said you saw a cat once; what did 


that say to you?—It said it would tear me in | 


pieces, if I would not set my hand to the book. 

‘She said her mother baptized her, and the 
Devil, or black man, was not there, as she saw ; 
and her mother said, when she baptized her, 
Thou art mine for ever and ever, amen! 

‘“Hlow did you afflict folks ?—I pinched them. 

“And she said she had no puppets, but she 
went to them that she afflicted. Being asked 
whether she went in her body or her spirit, she 
said in her spirit. She said her mother carried 
her thither to afflict. 

“How did your mother carry you when she 
was in prison ?—She came like a black cat. 

“How did you know it was your mother ?— 


The cat told me so, that she was my mother. 


a 
ay - aa a 
ee OL a eae Pe ae 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 117 


She said she afflicted Phelps’s child last Saturday, 
and Elizabeth Johnson joined with her to do it. 
She had a wooden spear about as long as her 
finger of Elizabeth Johnson; and she had it of 
the Devil. She would not own that she had ever 
been at the witch-meeting at the village. This 


is the substance. “SIMON WILLARD.” 


In alluding to her trial, Cotton Mather thus 
forcibly expresses his mind : 

“This rampant hag (Martha Carrier) was the 
person of whom the confessions of the witches, 
and of her own children among the rest, agreed 
that the Devil had promised her that she should 
be Queen of Hell.” 

The explanation of Cotton Mather’s strong 
language will be found in the examination of this 
most unhappy woman, where, driven to despera- 
tion by the use made of her children, she not : 
only indignantly repelled the accusations, but 
boldly denounced the magistrates. 

She was asked, *‘ What black man is that >—I 


know none.” 


118 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN- OUTLINE. 


(The accusers declared the black man was 
present, and that they could see him; so again 
she was asked) “What black man did you see? 
—TI saw no black man but your own presence.” 

(The girls kept falling down whenever she 
looked at them). 

“Can you look upon these and not knock them 
down?— They will dissemble if I look upon 
them.” 

“You see, you look upon them, and they fall 
down. — It is false ; the Devil is a liar. I looked 
upon none since I came into the room but you.” 

Susanna Sheldon in a trance cries out “tI won- 
der what you murder thirteen persons for.” At 
this outrageous statement, injured innocence can 
bear no more, and in the majesty of righteous 
wrath she flings this at the magistrates—“'It is a 
shameful thing that you should mind these folks’ 
that are out of their wits ;” and, turning to the 
accusers—“You lie ; I am wronged.” 

Confusion fell upon the multitude, and it is not 
surprising that the record of the scene closes 


with these words: 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. I1g 


‘The tortures of the afflicted were so great, 
that there was no enduring of it, so that she was 
ordered away, and to be bound hand and foot 
with all expedition ; the afflicted, in the mean 
time almost killed, to the great trouble of all 
spectators, magistrates, and others.” 

“Nore.—-As soon as she was well bound, they all had 
strange and sudden ease. Mary Walcott told the magis- 
trate that this woman told her she had been a witch this 
forty years.” 

There is nothing to lighten the gloom of this 
dark scene. A woman can bear, as the world 
knows, persecution for her faith, and bear it with 
heroic patience, but Martha Carrier’s fate was 
torture in addition to the finest instincts of her 
sex. ‘To be wrongfully accused, she might have 
borne with calm scorn, or quiet fortitude ; but to 
take her little ones and sharpen them into instru- 
ments for her destruction, was an outrage no 
mother could bear. ‘The love implanted by God 
for her offspring is changed into furious resent- 
ment at her wrongs, andsurely that God saw and 


blamed her not. 


120 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


To smooth her passage towards the other wold 
there was no raining of childish kisses on her 
face, no loving little arms about her in clinging 
embrace, for the cruelty of blind men had de- 
vised that those little arms should tighten the 


rope about their mother’s neck. 


CUAPTER KMVIL 


ELIZABETH HOW—REV. GEORGE BURROUGHS— 


ANGELS OF LIGHT;,”’ 


UR ancestors at this time were so serious- 
minded in their thought and conversation, 
their occupations so practical, that there seemed 
to be no time for the cultivation of any of the 
graces of life, excepting the Christian graces, in- 
culcated to them from the preacher’s stern lips. 
Austerity towards childhood seems to have 
been the rule ; children were loved of course, as 
they have been ever since little Cain and Abel 
played outside of the garden of Eden, but it was 
expressed in a manner the little people of the 
nineteenth century would think very forbidding. 
Slight account seems to have been made of the 
craving for frolic and play inherent in the young, 
6 (121) 


122 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


and there was little or nothing done for their 
amusement by their elders, whom stern realities 
occupied effectually. 

Elizabeth How of Topsfield, among other 
sweet qualities, had a gift for endearing herself 
to children in a degree quite remarkable for the 
times. So great was her faculty for entertaining 
her small friends, that a troop of children would 
be always about her. Monstrous as it would 
seem, this lovely trait of her character was used 
as a proof of her guilt, when later it suited some 
family grudge in the neighborhood that she 
should be apprehended for witchcraft. 

What would add to her womanly attraction 
to-day, the power of drawing little ones to her, 
was construed, from its being so uncommon, to 
be a power through evil. 

Elizabeth How is one of whom there is abun- 
dant proof as to her piety and excellence ; friends 
and neighbors drew up depositions as to her 
character, and one who had known her for 


twenty-four years testifies that she had “found her 


+, 
> 
<3 
‘ 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 123 


a neighborly woman, conscientious in her deal- 
ing, faithful to her promises, and Christianlike in 
her conversation.” 

But neither good character in the present, nor 
upright living in the past, had weight in that 
court; fits and convulsions were the important 
testimony. 

It is a temptation to dwell longer with this 
~ gentle, lovable woman, who not only forgave her 
enemies, which is the part of a saint, but could 
charm young hearts, a rare earthly gift. She 
was arrested May 28th, and among those exe- 
cuted July roth. 

There is one point where this last case re- 
minds us of the trial of the Rev. Geo. Burroughs. 
He had remarkable athletic power which, in a 
slight frame, amazed his generation; as they 
could not understand how he performed certain 
feats of strength, it was concluded after his | 
arrest for witchcraft, that he derived his unusual 
strength from the same unlawful source from 
which Elizabeth How gained her power of pleas- 


ing children. Muscle, which now recommends 


124 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


a man, was an aid inthe destruction of this un- 
fortunate clergyman. 

If we have any right to apply the term unfor- 
tunate to a man, suggesting as it does the pre-- 
destination of fate and not the fair division of 
providential care, it could be used with propriety 
in describing the Rev. Mr. Burroughs. 

He had been a former pastor over the church 
at Salem Village, and this parish it would seem 
was never a flowery field to pasture in. While 
tending this flock, his salary was not all paid 
him, and when his wife died he was obliged to 
run into debt for her funeral expenses, and his 
being in this sad plight seemed to scandalize 
the villagers more than that his lawful pay was 
in arrears, and the debt therefore a necessity. 

From Salem he went to Casco Bay, and in 
Maine his stay was more comfortable, though 
the settlement was younger and liable to attacks 
from Indians. Doubtless he preferred the un- 
tutored savage to the inhumanity of civilized 
man. 


When the stage managers controlling the 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 125 


witchcraft tragedy felt the need of a more pow- 
erful situation, they turned their eyes toward Mr. 
Burroughs as being the very character for their 
purpose. ‘To prove the reality of Satan’s pres- 
ence in New England, and his desperate be- 
havior on the soil, nothing would be more 
overwhelming than to show his hold upon one 
of the preachers of the Lord. 

The minister then was on such a pinnacle, to 
see his fall would be a thrilling sight. 

Our present realization is, that the wearer of 
gown and bands has human failings with the 
rest of us, but few were allowed the clergymen 
of our ancestors, save those of bigotry and in- 
tolerance. 

Therefore, to drag a minister down to the 
depths of this most despicable sin, from which 
he would be raised to the scaffold would be a 
telling stroke ; moreover the man had no power- 
ful friends to insist that the accusers had ‘made 
a mistake in the person.” 


How Mr. Burroughs, laboring quietly a hun- 


126 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


dred miles away, could become a prisoner be- 
fore the Salem Court would be a puzzle, if one 
did not see the cunning of these wicked girls, 
and the infatuated attention bestowed on every- 
thing they did and said. 

Abigail Hobbs, who took a short but painful 
part in the proceedings, had lived a few years 
before in Casco Bay. On hearing the name of 
Mr. Burroughs mentioned by the afflicted chil- 
dren she took this for her opportunity, using all 
the old scandal she had heard in Maine to add 
to the inventions of the Salem girls. She de- 
clared that he had tortured her into becoming 
a witch, and that she had been present at a 
witch-meeting where he presided, while Mary 
Warren testified that “Mr. Burroughs had a 
trumpet which he blew to summon the witches 
to their feasts.” 

Abigail Williams saw visions and said that 
Mr. Burroughs “had killed three wives, two for 
himself, and one for Mr. Lawson.’’ 


But the statement made by Ann Putnam is so 


SALEM WITCHCRAFYr IN OUTLINE. 127 


extraordinary and awful, when we reflect that it 
was made by a girl twelve years old, that it 
should be inserted as a specimen of what the 
mind can become when fed on poison. 

‘‘The Deposition of Ann Putnam, who testi- 
fieth and saith, that, on the 8th day of May, at 
evening, I saw the apparition of Mr. George 
Burroughs, who grievously tortured me, and 
urged me to write in his book, which I refused. 
He then told me that his two first wives would 
appear to me presently, and tell me a great 
many lies, but I should not believe them. 

Then immediately appeared to me the forms 
of two women in winding sheets, and najkins 
about their heads, at which I was greatly af- 
frighted ; and they turned their faces towards Mr. 
Burroughs, and looked very red and angry, and 
told him that he had been a cruel man to them, 
and that their blood did cry for vengeance 
against him ; and also told him that they should 
be clothed with white robes in heaven, when he 


should be cast into hell; and immediately he 


128 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. - 


vanished away. And, as soon as he was gone, 
the two women turned their heads toward me, 
and looked as pale as a white wall; and told me 
that they were Mr. Burroughs’ two first wives, 
and that he had murdered them. And one of 
them told me that she was his first wife, and he 
stabbed her under the left arm and put a piece 
of sealing-wax on the wound. And she pulled 
aside the winding sheet and showed me the 
place; and also told me that she was in the 
house where Mr. Parris now lives, when it was 
done. 

And the other told me that Mr. Burroughs and 
that wife which he hath now, killed her in the 
vessel, as she was coming to see her friends, 
because they would have one another. And 
they both charged me that I should tell these 
things to the magistrates before Mr. Burroughs’ 
face ; and, if he did not own them, they did not 
know but they should appear there. ‘This morn- 
ing, also, Mrs. Lawson and her daughter Ann 


appeared to me, whom I knew, and told me Mr. 


cA 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 129 


Burroughs murdered them. This morning also 
appeared to me another woman in a winding- 
sheet, and told me that she was Goodman 
Fuller’s first wife, and Mr. Burroughs killed her 
because there was some difference between her 
husband and him.” 

A warrant had been procured from Boston 
April 30th, for the arrest of George Burroughs, 
‘‘*he being suspected of a confederacy with the 
Devil.” 

As the marshal returned to Salem May 4th 
with the prisoner, it will be seen there was on 
time lost. It is said he was at his own supper 
table with his family, when he was seized and 
roughly hurried away, being given no time to 
either provide for those he must leave behind, 
or to prepare himself for the journey. 

On finding what were the accusations made 
against him, his words befitted his profession as 
a follower of Christ—“It is an humbling Provi- 
dence of God.” 

On the goth day of Maya special session of 


~ 


130 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


the Magistracy was held, William Stoughton 
coming from Dorchester and Samuel Sewall 
from Boston, to sit with Hathorne and Corwin, 
and give greater solemnity to the proceedings. 

Stoughton presided; he was in close sym- 
pathy with Cotton Mather. 

It should be borne in mind by those who have 
taunted Salem with ‘-hanging the witches,” that 
there was no death-dealing sentence ordered 
there, until the Court had been reinforced by 
Boston dignitaries ; Stoughton was deputy-gov- 
ernor, and represented the Governor, Sir William 
Phips, who, not arriving in the colonies until the 
14th of May, had enough else to do in becom- 
ing acquainted with a new office and country. 

When the session began the first week in June, 
a special court was appointed for the witchcraft 
trials. Stoughton was commissioned as chief-jus- 
tice ; Nathaniel Saltonstall of Haverhill, Major 
John Richards of Boston, Major Bartholomew 
Gedney of Salem, Mr. Wait Winthrop, Captain 
Samuel Sewall and Mr. Peter Sargent, all three of 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 131 


Boston, were made associate judges. Saltonstall 
early withdrew from the service; and Jonathan 
Corwin, of Salem, succeeded to his place on the 
bench of the special court. A majority of the 
judges were citizens of Boston. 

The court met again August 5, trying and con- 
demning among others this gentle preacher of 
the gospel, who was hung on the roth of the same 
month. 

He was a man in whom there was no guile ; 
he could not in the least comprehend the ma- 
chinery of sinful falsehood he saw in working or- 
der. Amazed he was, but not indignant at the 
accusers, of whom he perceived not their malig- 
nity, only that they were instruments for bring- 
ing about the inscrutable will of the Almighty. 

Calef gives the following account of his exe- 
cution : 

“Mr. Burroughs was carried in the cart with 
the others, through the streets of Salem, to exe- 
cution. When hewas upon the ladder, he madea 


speech for the clearing of his innocency, with 


132 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


such solemn and serious expressions as were to 
the admiration of all present. His prayer (which 
he concluded by repeating the Lord’s prayer) 
was so well worded, and uttered with such (at 
least seeming) fervency of spirit as was very af- 
fecting, and drew tears from many, so that it 
seemed to some that the spectators would hinder 
the execution. The accusers said the black man 
stood and dictated to him. As soon as he was 
turned off, Mr. Cotton Mather, being mounted 
upon a horse, addressed himself to the people, 
partly to declare that he (Mr. Burroughs) was 
no ordained minister, and partly to possess the 
people of his guilt, saying that the Devil had of- 
ten been transformed into an angel of light ; and 
this somewhat appeased the people, and the eX- 


ecutions went on.” 


CHAPTER XVIE. 


REV. DEODAT LAWSON AND OTHER NAMES-——SUSAN- 
NAH MARTIN 





NINETEEN PERSONS ‘f OF WHOM 


THE WORLD WAS NOT WORTHY.” 


EV. Deodat Lawson was another former 
R pastor of the church at Salem Village, es- 
tablished at this time over a parish in Scituate. 
When the trouble began in Salem he returned 
to his old home, not as did the wretched Mr. 
Burroughs in the character of a witch, but as an 
emissary of Divine wrath to rebuke the sin of 
witchcraft, and on the last Sunday of March, 
preached a famous sermon for which he is chiefly 
remembered, as it was as weil calculated to 
soothe the public mind, as Antony’s address to the 
Romans. 

His text was Zechariah iil, 2: ‘‘And the Lord 


(133 


134 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUILINE. 


said unto Satan the Lord rebuke thee, O Satan ! 
even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke 
thee ; is not this a brand plucked out of the 
hirer” 

Being a man of great intellectual ability, this 
text handled with skill and vigor spread out bound- 
lessly over the field actual and possible, and cre- 
ated a great excitement. 

Doubtless he felt himself to be like one of the 
prophets of old, commissioned from above, and 
under the necessity of crying woe ! to those of his 
generation. 

It is impossible in one small volume to give full 
accounts of all persons connected with the pro- 
ceedings of this remarkable court, and sketches 
of some of the most prominent must suffice. 

There are also other names, of whom we 
could not tell more if we would, as there is al- 
most nothing of peculiar interest preserved about 
them ; their stories can only be told in black 
head lines; we find but the facts of their arrest, 


trial, and execution. 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 135 


Among them, Ann Pudeator, Margaret Scott, 
Wilmot Reed and Mary Parker; and yet they 
lost their lives on Gallows Hill. 

Of Alice Parker, little is known but that she 
was the wife of a mariner who, when he was on 
land, like many another sailor, loved to frequent 
the tavern. This did not please Alice the wife 
and she followed him to Westgate’s tavern ; and, 
not a whit abashed at the company, vigorously 
denounced her recreant spouse. Westgate re- 
monstrated with her for railing at her husband, 
whereupon she turned her volley of abuse upsn 
the keeper of the ale-house.. Westgate remem- 
bered the berating she gave him, and at her 
trial gave dreadful descriptions of animals that 
he encountered on his way home late one night, 
and of how he hurt himself tumbling down from 
fright. 

The court, being composed of wise men, agreed 
with him that Alice Parker was responsible, and 
no one was impolite enough to suggest that he 


had been drinking. 


136 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


Parris says that “Mr. Noyes, at the time of her 
examination, affirmed to her face, that, he being 
with her at the time of sickness, discoursing with 
her about witchcraft, whether she were not guilty, 
she answered, ‘if she was as free from other 
sins as from witchcraft, she would not ask of the 
Lord mercy.’ ” 

We should consider this a strong asseveration 
of innocence, but the divines thought differ- 
ently. 

Sarah Wildes, one of the nineteen, is little more 
than a name to us, though we have the knowl- 
edge that she held to her innocence with firm- 
ness and met her death bravely. 

Captain John Alden, son of the John Alden 
of Plymouth, was “cried out”? upon and vilely 
slandered by the girls. He was in a bad plight ; 
it was no use for John to speak for himself here, 
and the brave soldier in fight beat a stealthy re- 
treat from the scene, and so won the battle for 
his life. 


There is a touching account given by Jonathan 





SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 137 


Cary of his wife’s arrest and trial, but their names 
happily are not on the fatal list. 

John Willard, one of the four men who were 
executed, had sympathized with the sorrows of 
the prisoners and expressed his disapproval of 
the whole thing. It did not occur to him that 
there was no such thing as witchcraft, but rather 
that its malign influence was over all, accusers, 
judges and people. 

Said he, ‘Hang them ; they are all witches.” 
His imprudence of speech was costly ; for, incur- 
ring the displeasure of the accusers, they in their 
visions saw him as a murderer and swore to many 
horrid and fantastic details. All we know of his 
death is from Brattle, who describes the de- 
meanor of the victims who perished in August, 
as being indicative of their conscious innocence 
and Christian character; especially of ‘Procter 
and Willard, whose whole management of them- 
selves, from the jail to the gallows, was very af- 
fecting, and melting to the hearts of some con- 


siderable spectators whom I could mention to 


138 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


vou; but they are executed, and so I leave 
them.” 

One piquant figure demands attention, and no 
account of the witchcraft would be complete 
without Susannah Martin of Amesbury, ina cen- 
tral position and good light. She was a widow, 
standing by herself, but quite capable of doing 
sO. 

In person she was short and buxom, and one 
of those to whom neatness was as imperative 
as the law of gravitation. Indeed, this desire 
for cleanliness, instead of being understood as 
an approach to godliness was brought up against 
her as proving an intimacy with the evil one. 
It was positively given as evidence against her 
that she made her way to a neighbor’s house in 
dirty weather and arrived neat and dry. Upon 
her hostess expressing surprise at finding sucha 
clean guest, she replied that “she scorned to 
have a drabbled tail.” . 

As to her turn of mind, she suggests Bridget 


Bishop in her fearless speech, and like her she 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 139 


had once before been gossipped about as a pos- 
sible witch, before the time was yet ripe for the 
scandal to become action. 

Parts of her examination must be given to 
show her keen wit and readiness for repartee. 

As the witnesses went into fits as the accused 
appeared, the magistrate asked : 

“Hath this woman hurt you?” 

(Abigail Williams declared that she had hurt 
her often. ‘Ann Putnam threw her glove at her 
in a fit,’ and the rest were struck dumb at her 
presence ) 

‘What ! Do you laugh at it?” said the magis- 
trate.—“Well I may at such folly.” | 

“Ts this folly to see these so hurt ?—I never 
hurt man, woman or child.” 

(Mercy Lewis cried out, “She hath hurt me 
a great many times, and plucks me down.” Then 
“Martin laughed again. Several others cried out 
upon her, and the magistrate again addressed 
her.) 


140 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


“What do you say to this?—I have no hand 
in witchcraft. 

“What did you do? did you consent these 
should be hurt >—No, never in my life. 

“What ails these people?—I do not know. 

“‘But what do you think ails them ?—I do not 
desire to spend my judgment upon it. 

“To you think they are bewitched ?—No, I 
do not think they are. 

‘Well, tell us your thoughts about them.— 
My thoughts are my own when they are in; but 
when they are out, they are another’s. 

“Who do you think is their master ?—If they 
be dealing in the black art, you may know as 
well as I. 

“What have you done towards the hurt of 
these ?—I have done nothing. 

“Why, it is you, or your appearance.—I can- 
not help it. 

“Flow comes your appearance to hurt these? 
— How do I know? 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. I4t 


‘Are you not willing to tell the truth >—I can- 
not tell. He that appeared in Samuel’s shape 
can appear in anyone’s shape. | 

“T)o you believe these afflicted persons do not 
say true?—They may lie, for aught I know. 

“May not you lie?—I dare not tell a lie if it 
would save my life.” | 

Her boldness infuriated the accusers, so that 
a great uproar was occasioned by the dreadful 
nature of the convulsions, but Susannah Martin 
was scornful and unmoved, and again the mag- 
istrate demands : ; 

‘‘What is the reason these cannot come near 
you ?—I cannot tell, it may be the Devil bears 
me more malice than any other. 

“Do you not see God discovering you ?—No, 
not a bit for that. 

‘“‘ All the congregation besides, think so. — 
Let them think what they will. 

‘What is the reason these cannot come to 
you ?—I do not know but they can if they will; 


or else, if you please, I will come to them.” 


142 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


When the Shakespeare of the future seeks for 
characters to people his tragedy from these ma- 
terials, he could not put into the mouth of Mar- 
tin more clever speeches than she utters for 
herself in these records. Her dauntless. spicy 
replies delight the reader who, in his enjoyment 
at her ready wit, forgets that this substantial 
woman who suggests earth more than heaven, 
came to her end on the scaffold a little more 
than two months after this, July 19. 

We would prefer to think of her as castigating 
the magistrates with her sharp tongue for an in- 
definite period. 

The names of those executed, and the order 
in which they perished, are as follows : 


Bridget Bishop on June 10th; Sarah Good, 


Sarah Wildes, Elizabeth How, Rebecca Nurse 


and Susanna Martin executed July 19. 


George Burroughs, John Procter, George Ja- 


cobs, John Willard, Martha Carrier executed 
AUG TO; 
Martha Corey, Mary Easty, .Alice Parker, 


SALEM WITCHCRAFL IN OUTLINE. 143 


Ann Pudeator, Margaret Scott, Wilmot Reed, 
Samuel Wardwell and Mary Parker were exe- 
cuted Sept. 22. 

Giles Ccrey was pressed. to death, Sept. 19. 

Superintending the executions, there would be 
generally some one like Cotton Mather or Mr. 
Noyes, to attend to the sympathies of the pub- 
lic mind. When natural human impulses would 
rise in the hearts of the spectators, and their 
reason be likewise impressed by the fortitude 
and Christlike patience of the executed, the mo- 
ment of their possible revulsion of feeling would 
be seized to inflame afresh the deluded populace 
against those in the throes of death. 

After the eight unfortunate women had been 
hung on the 22nd of Sept., Mr. Noyes pointing 
to their bodies exclaimed: ‘What a sad sight 
it is to see eight firebrands of hell hanging ~ 
eyere.”’ 

Lut no more did he see the sight, although 


the sadncss of it he would have gladly borne. 









looking steadfastly over the city of Salem upo ; 
the everlasting sea, prays that the rains and 
snows of two hundred years may have washed 
away the stain. 


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5 Sey ' A hed ta ye ne “hee * 
P er tin 
sng ne OMe Se te Se te 
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1* he bug f 
foe RUS heesig Reet ee eee oes 
bide setl Si = ths Pes F< = ten whe ner « b a mi re 


ae “® Deiat eek s Wee Penerrety ets 





CHAPTER XVIII. 


THE AWAKENING. 






( ‘Sie finally broke the spell by which 






he minds of the whole colony had been 


held in bondage, was the accusation in 







of Mrs. Hale, the wife of the minister of the First 
. E Her genuine 1 distin- 
guished virtues had won for her a reputation and 
secured in the hearts of the people a conf Ee, 
which superstition itself could no su ly or shake. 

Mr. Hale had been active in all the previous 
proceedings ; but he knew the innocence and 
piety of his wife, and he stood forth between her 
and the storm he had helped to raise ; although 
he had driven it on while others were its victims, 
he turned and resisted it, when it burst upon his 


own dwelling. T unl 


7 (145) 


CUE ULI Eh) 


- 
6 is Lore |e Re 
1D 


i. 





The wildest storm, perhaps, 
that ever raged in the moral world became a 
calm ; the tide that had threatened to overwhelm 
everything in its fury sank back to its peaceful 
bed. There are few, if any, other instances in 
history of a revolution of opinion and feeling so 
sudden, so rapid and so complete. The images 
and visions that had possessed the bewildered 
imaginations of the people flitted away, and left 
them standing in the sunshine of reason and 
their senses ; and they could have exclaimed, as 
they witnessed them passing off, in the language 
of the great master of the drama and of human 
nature, but that their rigid Puritan principles 
would not, it is presumed, have permitted them, 
even in that moment of rescue and deliverance, 
to quote Shakespeare. 





SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 147 


“The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, 
And these are of them. Whither are they vanished? 
Into the air: and what seemed corporal, melted 


As breath into the wind.”’ 


Not only had public sentiment demanded that 






a stop be put to the proceedings, but the Gov- 







ernor, Sir William Phips, stepped i Eween the 


: 


law and the people, and ordered that the Special 


Court of Oyer and Termine 


cases of wi raft. Once convinced of the mis- 


ould try no more 






take of his age, he resolutely protected the peo- 
ple from further wrong ; and in October, by or- 
daining that no more spectral testimony be re- 
ceived as evidence, it became impossible to 
compass further convictions. It was doubtless 
through the influence of his wife that the Gov- 
ernor looked into the matter with such discern- 
ing eyes, for she had deep sympathy for the ac-. 
cused. For expressing this pity, the Governor’s 
lady was “cried out”? upon; but no one heeded 
the cries of the afflicted children. 


The prisons of Salem, Boston, Cambridge and 






148 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


Ipswich were full, and had been for months. No 
exact knowledge of how many were imprisoned 
can be gained, but hundreds must have been 
committed, for when in May the prison doors 
were opened, one hundred and fifty went forth, 
though insult was added to injury by charging 
the prisoners for their own board and jailer’s fees ; 
yet the roth century should not be supercilious 
in judging the 17th in this particular, as imprison- 
ment for debt in this country has only been aban- 
doned within a few decades. 


ee 


4 en —) as | 
1, and we know death 


There is nothing like having a thing brought. 
home to us, to gain new perceptions of the sub- 
ject. As long as Mr. Hale saw the accusations 
only of other people’s wives, he found it easy to 
believe them; but when the tragedy came to 
brood over his own hearthstone, such a flood of 


light was poured upon it, he saw clearly what he 








SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 149 


never could distinguish before at his neighbor’s 
fireside. 

As we think of the condemned, let this fact be 
emphasized in the memory, that ‘all who were 
condemned either maintained their innocence 
from the first, or, if persuaded or overcome into 
a confession, voluntarily took it back and dis- 
owned it before trial. If this be so, then the 
name of every person condemned ought to be 
held in lasting honor, as preferring to die rather 
than lie, or stand to a hie. It required great 
strength of mind to take back a contession ; re- 
linquish life and liberty ; go down into a dungeon, 
loaded with irons; and thence to ascend the 
gallows. It relieves the mind to think that 
Abigail Hobbs, wicked and shocking as her con- 
duct had been towards Mr. Burroughs and others, 
came to herself, and offered her life in atone- 
ment for her sin.”’ 

The people of Andover were quick to take an 
idea. Many of them, as soon as they were ap- 


prehended, resorted to confession of their guilt, 


150 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


and so avoided either trial or examination. They 
may have reconciled the lie to their consciences, 
as we would humor the vagaries of a mad man 
in order to save our lives, believing that it was 
justifiable to accede to any monstrous statement 
the lunatic might make while brandishing a dead- 
ly weapon. 

It was in Andover also, that when the awaken- 
ing came, their citizens were broad awake, and 
instantly reversed the order of things, by bring- 
ing suits for slander against those who had so 
zealously been hunting up cases of witchcraft. 

Reckoning in the ordinary way, the two hun- 
dred years between ourselves and the people who 
saw the witchcraft frenzy would be represented 
by eight generations. Our claim upon them is 
shrouded in such a mist of ‘‘great-greats,” that 
none but an adept in genealogy can pierce the 
haze. 

But here is a short cut into the past, by which 
each reader may look upon the streets of Salem, 


in 1692, through oral testimony, with but two in - 





SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. I51I 


tervening generations. A gentleman whose dis- 
tinguished figure and antiquarian tastes make him 
one of the notable citizens of the Salem of to- 
day, heard from his grandmother (who died in 
1862, aged ninety-two) the story told by her 
grandmother, whose mother was an eye-witness 
of the scene she describes ; she was living at the 
time on Essex street where the Perley block now 
stands, and related, that as the wagon bearing 
the body of Giles Corey passed her door, she saw 
aman push back with his cane the tongue of un- 
fortunate Corey, which by the agonizing pressure 
had been forced from his mouth. 

Let us take one more glimpse at a few of those 
concerned in the trials, before closing the covers 
of this little book. 

Some of the characters, though aroused, were 
like sleepy children and could not quite realize. 
the state of things about them for a long time ; 
indeed, a few of them one might say never waked 
up at all. Such was Judge Stoughton. 

He would never admit that he or any one else 


had been deluded, neither could he bear to hear 


152 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


others regret the wrong unwittingly done to the 
innocent. 

When he found that he would not be allowed 
to sentence any more witches, he was so exasper- 
ated that he left the bench in displeasure never 
returning. “In January 1692-3 word was brought 
in, that a reprieve was sent to Salem, and had 
prevented the execution of seven of those that 
were condemned, which so moved the chief judge 
that he said to this effect : ‘We were in a way to 
have cleared the land of them; who it is that 
obstructs the cause of justice I know not; the 
Lord be merciful to the Country !’ and so went 
off the bench, and came no more into that Court.” 

In strong contrast, is the conduct of Judge 
Sewall. He saw the awful error, and had grace 
to tell the world of his enlightenment and peni- 
tence. He observed annually, for the rest of his 
life, a day of fasting and prayer in private, and 
in public, “On the day of the general fast, he 
rose in the place where he was accustomed to 
worship, the ‘ Old South’ in Boston, and, in the 


presence of a large assembly, handed up to the 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 153 


pulpit a written confession, acknowledging the 
error into which he had been led, praying for the 
forgiveness of God and his people, and conclud- 
ing with a request to all the congregation to unite 
with him in devout supplication, that it might not 
bring down the displeasure of the Most High up- 
on his country, his family, or himself. He re- 
mained standing during the public reading of the 
paper.” 

As for Ann Putnam, both parents died when 
she was nineteen, leaving her in charge of many 
younger brothers and sisters. 

Her health was miserable the latter part of her 
short life ; she died at thirty-six. 

When she joined the church in 1706, she wrote 
a confession which was read aloud in her pres- 


ence. 


The Confession of Anne Putnam, when she 
was received to Communion in 1700. 

“T desire to be humbled before God for that 
sad and humbling providence that befell my fath- 


er’s family in the year about ’92; that I being 


154 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


then in my childhood, should, by such providence 
of God be made an instrument for the accusing 
of several persons of a grievous crime, whereby 
their lives were taken away from them, whom now 
I have just grounds and good reason to believe 
they were innocent persons ; and that it was a 
great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that 
sad time, whereby I justly fear I have been instru- 
mental, with others, though ignorantly and: un- 
wittingly, to bring upon myself and this land the 
guilt of innocent blood; though what was said 
or done by me against any person I can truly and 
uprightly say, before God and man, I did it not 
out of any anger, malice or ill-will to any per- 
son, for I had no such thing against one of them ; 
but what I did was ignorantly, being deluded by 
Satan. And particularly, as I was a chief instru- 
ment of accusing of Goodwife Nurse and _ her 
two sisters, I desire to lie in the dust, and to be 
humbled for it, in that I was a cause, with others, 
of so sad a calamity to them and their families ; 
for which cause I desire to lie in the dust, and 


earnestly beg forgiveness of God, and from all 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 155 


those unto whom I have given just cause of sor- 
row and offence, whose relations were taken away 
or accused.’ 

This is not so humble as it might have been 
perhaps, considering what Ann Putnam had been 
responsible for, though like a true daughter of 
Eve she throws the blame upon the Devil for her 
naughtiness ; while the tumult she brought about, 
is described as ‘‘that sad and humbling providence 
that befell my father’s family in the year about 
’92.”’. It was bad enough to shift the burden 
upon the Devil, without presuming to suggest 
there was a Providence connected with the mat- 
ter. 

Mr. Parris was another who failed to see what 
cruel folly he had been about, and this fact add- 
ed to his previous unpopularity, made his parish 
and the whole community long to be rid of him. 

But he did not wish to go. He was deaf and 
blind to hints, and when it came to direct efforts 
to compass his change of residence, he as delib- 


erately prepared to resist all such unwelcome 


156 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


suggestions. The ministers in Boston all urged 
him to go, even those who sympathized with him, 
but go he would not in spite of friend or foe un- 
til 1697, when really obliged to; his career after 
leaving Salem was not prosperous. 

Mr. Noyes also was unable to reconcile him- 
self to enforced abstinence from witch-persecu- 
tion. His name is not found in any petition in 
behalf of sufferers of the delusion, nor is there 
evidence of any penitential attitude towards them 
on his part, after the delusion was over. . As he 
so ardently pursued the supposed guilty, it must 
have been a great trial, that believing in all bit- 
terness they were guilty still, he could no more 
bring them to punishment. 

Cotton Mather and his subsequent position can 
best be shown by his own diary of the year 1724, 
where he unbosoms himself freely, revealing his 
disappointed ambitions, and that he recognizes 
his fallen position from public esteem. 

t. ‘What has a gracious Lord helped me to 


do for the seafaring ¢ribe, in prayers for them, 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 157 


in sermons to them, in books bestowed upon them, 
and in various projections and endeavors to ren- 
der the sailors a happy generation? And yet there 
is not a man in the world so reviled, so slandered, 
so cursed among sailors.”’ 

2. “What hasa gracious Lord helped me to do 
for the instruction and salvation and comfort of 
the poor negroes? And yet some, on purpose to 
affront me, call their negroes by the name of 
COTTON MATHER, so that they may, with 
some shadow of truth, assert crimes as committed 
by one of that name, which the hearers take to 
be me. 

3. “What has a gracious Lord given me to do 
for the profit and honor of the female sex, es- 
pecially in publishing the virtuous and laudable 
characters of holy women? And yet where is the 
man whom the female sex have spit more of their 
venom at? I have cause to question whether 
there are twice ten in the town but what have, at 
some time or other, spoken dase/y of me. 


4. “What has a gracious Lord given me to do, 


158 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


that I may be a blessing to my relatives ? I keep 
a catalogue of them, and not a week passes me 
without some good devized for some or other of 
them, till I have taken all of them under my cog- 
nizance. And yet where is the man who has 
been so tormented with such mozstrous relatives ? 
Job said ‘7 am a brother to dragons.’ 

5. “What has a gracious Lord given me to do 
for the vindication and reputation of the Scottish 
nation? And yet no Englishman has been so vil- 
lified by the tongues and pens of Scots as I have 
been. 

6. “What has a gracious Lord given me to do 
for the good of the country, in applications with- 
out number for it in all its interests, besides pub- 
lications of things useful to it and for it? And yet 
there is no man whom the country so loads with 
disrespect and calumnies and manifold expres- 
sions of aversion. 

8. “What has,a gracious Lord given me to do 
that the COLLEGE may be owned for the bring- 


ing forth such as are somewhat known in the 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 159 


world, and have read and wrote as much as many 
have done in their places? And yet the College 
forever puts marks of disesteem upon me. If I 
were the greatest blockhead that ever came from 
it, or the greatest blemish that ever came to it, 
they could not easily show me more contempt 
than they do 

to. “What has a gracious Lord given me to do 
in good offices, wherever I could find opportunities 
for the doing of them? I forever entertain them 
with alacrity. I have offered pecuniary recom- 
penses to such as would advise me of them. And 
yet I see no man for whom all are so loth to do 
good offices. Indeed I find some cordial friends 
but how few! Often have I said, ‘what would I 
give if there were any one man in the world to do 
for me what I am willing to do for every man in 
the world !’ 

tr. “What has a gracious Lord given me to do 
in the writing of many books for the advancing of 
piety and the promoting of his kingdom? There 
are, | suppose, more than three hundred of them. 


And yet I have had more books written against 


160 SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 


me, more pamphlets to traduce and reproach me 


and belie me, than any man I know in the world. 


12. “What has a gracious Lord given me to do, 
in avariety of services? Formany lustres of years, 
not a day has passed me without some devices; 
even written devices, to be serviceable. And 
yet my sufferings ! They seem to be (as in reason 
they should be) more than my services. Every- 
body points at me, and speaks of me as by far 
the most afflicted minister in all New England. 
And many look on me as the greatest sinner, be- 
cause the greatest sufferer! and are pretty arbi- 
trary in their conjectures upon my punished mis- 
carriages.”’ 

Coming to the last page, the reader may doubt 
whether the question “Why did they suffer?” has 
yet been-answered. Possibly not, but here are 
plenty of facts, and each reader can take them 
and make answer himself. 

If the mind sickens at the horrors on which it 
has supped, grieving at the sin of some which 


caused the agony of others, let us look at the glo- 


ene 


SALEM WITCHCRAFT IN OUTLINE. 161 


rious triumph of humanity over inhumanity, and 
rejoice in the heavenly qualities it has brought 
out. They were dearly bought, but they are for 
us and for all future generations. Pausing before 
the monument of Rebecca Nurse the other day, 
a singular sight was seen. ‘The underbrush had 
been gathered up and was burning under the tall 
pine trees. The flames and smoke were wreath- 
ing and curling in the wind, at times obscuring 
the granite pile it encircled. 

Irresistible and wierd was the lesson. The 
smoke of superstition and the fire of fury had 
raged for a while, destroying what could be 
reached. But they were soon spent, and as they 
disappeared, the rock came into clear view which 
‘represents the faith which supported Rebecca 
Nurse, and reason, now firmly established for all 


time. 














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